A 44-year-old businessman has been jailed for 12 years for helping an organised crime group with links to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and importing the largest ever consignment of crystal meth in the history of the State.
Nathan McDonnell, who ran the long-established Ballyseedy Garden Centre in Tralee in Co Kerry, allowed his business to be used to store a machine containing more than €32 million of methylamphetamine, or crystal meth.
He also tried to arrange for the machine to be transported to Australia.
McDonnell, who has no previous convictions, 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.
His business, which had been in the family for years, owed €1m to the Revenue Commissioners and was on the brink of collapse
He agreed to store a machine with €32m worth of the illegal and highly addictive drug crystal meth at the Ballyseedy Garden Centre, before moving it on to Australia.
He was to be paid €150,000, money he never received.
Customs officers at Cork Port found the drugs in plastic bags stored in a drum on 15 February 2024.
They were acting on information supplied by gardaí investigating a Kerry-based organised crime group involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, violence and intimidation of witnesses, which had links to the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, one of the largest and most dangerous drug cartels in the world.
Gardaí had searched a premises in Listowel in Co Kerry, in June 2023 and seized mobile phones, sim cards and a passport showing extensive international travel.
They also gained access to encrypted apps on the phones and discovered an intention to import "powder" from Mexico to Ireland.
While the organised crime group members used burner phones and false emails, McDonnell used his own phone and email address and claimed he did not know what was in the machine.
Originally the gang had planned to lease a yard from an engineering company on the pretence of establishing a scrap metal recycling business and importing machinery.
However that plan fell through when the company became suspicious, so the gang decided to use the Ballyseedy Garden Centre instead.
It was McDonnell's job to get the machine to Australia.
He first tried to use a legitimate business to export the machine to Australia but that failed so he had to use a family member’s address and created false invoices.
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When he was caught, he tried to claim the machine 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, with the input of the ESB and the construction of a substation on site.
During follow-up searches in February 2024, properties associated with the another man were searched and two submachine guns, a number of magazines and some rounds of ammunition were recovered.
McDonnell told gardaí he was in financial difficulties and in fear of the man who had an "extensive history of interpersonal violence" and had been questioned about offences up to and including murder.
He was assaulted in Portlaoise Prison earlier this week and has undergone surgery where screws, wires and two plates have been inserted into his jaw.
His defence counsel, Michael Bowman, told the court that given the background to the case and the assault, his client will require additional security.
Ms Justice Melanie Greally said McDonnell was not "a mere cog in the wheel" but carried out several tasks which demanded a high level of trust and responsibility for the criminal gang.
She said he arranged the collection and storage of the machine with the drugs and arranged for it to be shipped to Australia, engaging in protracted correspondence with shipping agents, forging an invoice and deceiving a legitimate business in the process.
He claimed he did not know the drugs were in the machine but the judge said he had "ample information" about it, its origin, size, the person who he was dealing with and the links to the Sinaloa cartel, so he could "join the dots".
"He demonstrated recklessness and indifference which was tantamount to knowledge," she said.
The three judges accepted that McDonnell was not to profit from the sale of the drugs, but he was in it for the money he was to be paid.
The court took into account the "enormous personal consequences for him and his family," the shame and stigma for him, his wife and three sons who are still in primary school and whose childhood he will miss.
A headline sentence of 21 years in prison was set, but with mitigation and other factors, McDonnell was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the drugs offences and six years for helping a criminal gang, both sentences to run concurrently.
