A 48-year-old man has appeared in court charged with an organised crime offence.
Brian Grendon from Greenfort Drive in Clondalkin in Dublin was charged with directing the activities of a criminal gang in 2024.
The charge relates to the importation and distribution of drugs and moneylaundering the proceeds of those drugs between 1 August and 17 September 2024.
The offence is contrary to Section 71A of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.
Detective Sergeant Hugh McInerney from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.
He told the court that he arrested Mr Grendon at Dublin Airport last night, and he was conveyed to Kevin Street Garda Station.
The detective said Mr Grendon made no reply when the charge was put to him.
Mr Grendon's solicitor, Wayne Kenny, made an application to the court for the 48-year-old to be remanded in custody for one day and be produced in court again tomorrow morning.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Mr Kenny told the judge that Mr Grendon had been arrested coming back into the country last night, but that "certain media reports" alleged he had absconded while on bail, which was not the case.
He said Mr Grendon was on bail after having previously been charged with moneylaundering, but had pleaded guilty to tax offences and was due before the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court tomorrow to be sentenced.
Mr Kenny said Mr Grendon's passport had been returned to him and he had been allowed to leave the jurisdiction.
He said he now wanted to make sure that matter was finalised tomorrow in the Circuit Court and asked the judge today to remand Mr Grendon until tomorrow "to ensure that he is in court for that matter".
The solicitor said he was concerned that once Mr Grendon had been produced this morning, he would not be produced tomorrow morning, and there was "no reason why the sentencing can't go ahead tomorrow".
Judge Máire Conneely agreed to the application and remanded Mr Grendon to Clover Hill prison to appear again at the Dublin District Court tomorrow morning at 10.30am for mention only.
She said he should be produced in the District Court and can then be brought up to the higher Circuit Criminal Court for sentencing on the tax matters.
