A pilot charged over a seizure of around €8.5 million of cocaine flown into the midlands in 2022 will go on trial in March.
Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau officers, supported by other units, monitored a Cessna single-engine aircraft landing at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, Co Longford, shortly after 6pm on 4 August 2022.
Later that evening, they intercepted two vehicles in the Lough Owel area in Co Westmeath, recovering 120kg of cocaine from one car.
Michal Luczak, a Polish national with an address at Primrose Avenue, Jigginstown, Naas, Co Kildare, and now living in Skerries, Dublin, was charged with possessing drugs worth more than €13,000 at the Abbeyshrule Aerodrome on 4 August 2022.
The 43-year-old, who remains on bail, has already indicated he will be pleading not guilty.
He appeared before Judge Keenan Johnson at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court this morning, who heard a prosecution witness is unavailable for the trial due to start on 26 November.
The trial is now listed for 25 March next year.
Judge Johnson also heard Mr Luczak's trial is expected to last two weeks.
