Man (31) appears in court charged over €140,000 cocaine seizure in Tallaght
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Man (31) Appears In Court Charged Over €140,000 Cocaine Seizure In Tallaght
Dominik Kaczmarek (31) appeared before Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court on Saturday. Photo: PA Images
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25/02/2023 | 17:55 PM
TOM TUITE
A father of two arrested over a seizure of €140,000 worth of cocaine in Tallaght, Dublin, has been held on €11,000 bail.
Officers with the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) arrested Dominik Kaczmarek (31), of Maplewood Green, Tallaght, on Friday.
He was charged with possessing 2kg of cocaine for sale or supply at his address.
He appeared before Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court on Saturday and faced objections to bail.
Detective Garda Stephen Gillespie told Judge Smyth that the accused made no reply to the charges.
He told the bail hearing that the GNDOCB carried out an operation targetting organised crime activities involving the importation of drugs and money laundering.
It was alleged that the accused was seen letting a man out of his car in Firhouse before returning home. Gardaí then seized the cocaine from his car on his driveway.
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Detective Gillespie said the GNDOCB would prepare a "comprehensive file" for the Director of Public Prosecutions and there was a likelihood of further charges.
Questioned by defence counsel Kevin McCrave, he agreed the accused was a Polish national who has been in Ireland for eight years, the last five of which were at his current address, and he had a family here.
The barrister pleaded for bail and said his client would obey conditions if released.
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Detective Gillespie said: "That alleviates some concerns, not fully, but some."
Judge Smyth set bail in Mr Kaczmarek's bond of €1,000 with a €10,000 independent surety.
He was remanded in custody with consent to bail to appear at Cloverhill District Court on Wednesday.
After taking bail, he must sign on at a garda station daily, surrender his passport, and remain contactable by phone. Legal aid was granted.
Before that he was a Pole Dancer:
Ten years mandatory for amounts over €13,000.
A Polish man caught with €39,000 gets two years in July 2019, gets two years, and serves probably one.
Father-of-one jailed for two years after agreeing to mind €39k of ecstasy tablets
A father-of-one who agreed to mind €39,000 worth of ecstasy tablets for €500 because he had a gambling debt has been jailed for two years.
Father-of-one jailed for two years after agreeing to mind €39k of ecstasy tablets
WED, 24 JUL, 2019 - 17:10
SONYA MCLEAN
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A father-of-one who agreed to mind €39,000 worth of ecstasy tablets for €500 because he had a gambling debt has been jailed for two years.
Dominik Kaczmarek, 27, of Maplewood Green, Springfield, Tallaght, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to being in possession of 3,944 MDMA tablets at his home on October 8, 2018.
He has four previous convictions for minor road traffic offences.
Judge Martin Nolan accepted that Kaczmarek had a gambling problem which left him vulnerable and that he was holding the drugs for reward.
“I have no doubt that he was going to hand them onto third parties,” the judge said before he added that Kaczmarek “knew what he was at and took the chance”.
“He gambled and he was caught,” Judge Nolan said.
He accepted that Kaczmarek had a good work record, no relevant previous convictions and co-operated with the garda investigation but said “I cannot go as far as a totally suspended sentence”, before he jailed him for two years.
Garda Vincent Jaffray told Siobhán Ní Chúlacháin BL, prosecuting, that Kaczmarek's home was searched and the tablets were found in a drawer in a bedroom along with a weighing scales.
A further amount of tablets was found in a jacket pocket in the same room.
He told gardaí during the search that he had got the tablets the month previously and had been paid €500 to do it.
Kaczmarek later told gardaí that he had lost his job at the time and had trouble with gambling.
Gda Jaffray agreed with Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, defending, that his client co-operated with the garda investigation and officers accepted that he was holding the drugs for someone else.
He further accepted that Kaczmarek has not come to garda attention since.
Mr Ó Lideadha said his client wanted to address his gambling addiction and asked the court to consider adjourning the case to allow him time to “fully turn his life around”.
He submitted that his client did not have serious previous convictions and was a vulnerable person due to his gambling problem.
Counsel said his client had always played an important role in his daughter's life and handed in a number of testimonials which spoke of his relationship with his child.
