A 44-year-old Co Kerry businessman is expected to be sentenced later this month for drug importation and for facilitating an organised crime gang, in relation to the largest ever haul of crystal meth in the history of the State.
The Special Criminal Court heard Nathan McDonnell, who ran the long-established Ballyseedy Garden Centre in Tralee in Co Kerry, had allowed his premises to be used to store a machine containing more than €32 million of methylamphetamine, or crystal meth, and had been involved in making arrangements for transporting the machine to Australia.
The court heard the drugs were imported from Mexico as part of an arrangement with one of the world's largest drugs cartels.
Lawyers for McDonnell said his business was in financial difficulties at the time and that he was operating in fear, under the direction of another man who has yet to go on trial.
McDonnell pleaded guilty to importing drugs into Cork on 16 October 2023 and facilitating the activities of a criminal organisation between that date and 12 February 2024.
Prosecuting counsel John Berry told the three judges that customs officers acting on intelligence stopped and inspected a container in Cork port on 15 February 2024.
It contained a large machine ostensibly to be used to separate scrap metal. After x-raying it, customs officers cut a hole in the machine using angle grinders and discovered a drum containing plastic bags full of methylamphetamine, known as crystal meth. The drugs were valued at €32.4 million.
The customs officers had been acting on information received from gardaí investigating the activities of a criminal gang operating in Kerry.
The court heard the gang was transnational and had cells in different continents across the globe.
Detective Sergeant David Howard agreed that they were involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, intimidation of witnesses and assaults.
The court was also told they had connections with the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, described as one of the biggest drugs cartels in the world.
The court heard information associated with the machine was "intimately connected" with Ballyseedy Garden Centre.
Mr Berry said that during a previous search of a premises in Listowel in Co Kerry in June 2023, as part of the same garda investigation, mobile phones and sim cards had been seized as well as a passport showing extensive international travel.
Sergeant Howard agreed that the person who owned this property had ready access to funds and hundreds of thousands of euro were moving around his accounts. But he had never filed income tax returns or received social welfare payments.
Gardaí gained access to encrypted apps on the phones and discovered an intention to import "powder" from Mexico to Ireland.
The court heard a plan to lease a yard from an engineering company on the pretence of establishing a scrap metal recycling business and importing machinery to use in the business, fell through when the company became suspicious.
The alternative option pursued by the gang became the use of the Ballyseedy Garden Centre, run by McDonnell.
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The court was told the machine arrived in Cork in October 2023 and was stored in a warehouse in the centre. The plan was to export it to Australia. McDonnell attempted to seek a legitimate business in Australia whose address and business number could be used in the exportation, but he eventually had to use the address of a family member.
The court heard McDonnell was also involved in the creation of a false invoice for the machine.
He initially claimed it was to be used in one of his businesses, but an inspection commissioned by gardaí found only an operation on the scale of Tara Mines would have warranted the use of such a machine. It would have required the input of the ESB and the construction of a substation on site.
During follow-up searches in February 2024, properties associated with the other man were searched and two submachines, a number of magazines and some rounds of ammunition were recovered.
CCTV footage from the garden centre showed McDonnell at the centre with the other man. Some footage showed the other man with McDonnell in the office area looking at computer screens.
McDonnell was interviewed 21 times and initially claimed the machine was part of a normal business transaction and that he was not aware of what was inside it.
However, he eventually acknowledged that he was involved in a plan to get the machine out of Ireland and redirect it to Australia. He said he was in fear of the other man and was in financial difficulties. He was hoping to be paid €150,000 for facilitating the storage of the machine and its onward transmission to Australia, but the court heard there was no evidence he had received any money.
The court heard McDonnell told gardaí he felt relieved the matter had come to an end but maintained he had no idea what was in the machine.
Defence counsel Michael Bowman said McDonnell was, at all stages, operating on his own phone and with his own email address, whereas others were using burner phones and false addresses.
Mr Bowman said the other man involved had an "extensive history of interpersonal violence" and had been questioned about offences up to and including murder. He said McDonnell's fears had been justified.
He said that in December 2023, the other man wanted the machine out of the country and had made this McDonnell’s problem to solve.
He said McDonnell’s businesses were in very poor shape at the time and the garden centre had been described by one witness as a "disaster" owing around €1 million to Revenue.
He said McDonnell’s family had suffered catastrophically. He has three young children, and the business which had been in his family for years was on the brink of collapse.
The court heard McDonnell has no previous convictions.
Presiding Judge Melanie Greally said the case would be listed next Monday with a view to finalising the sentence at the end of the month.
