Four in court charged with conspiracy to import drugs

FOUR men, under an armed escort, appeared at Bantry District Court on Wednesday morning, charged with conspiracy to import drugs in excess of €13,000 between February 27th and March 14th.

Four armed gardaí were stationed outside the court while the case was being dealt with inside Aras Bheanntraí.

The four accused are part of a group of 10 men arrested on the morning of Thursday March 14th when gardaí stopped a truck and an SUV at Tragumna, as well as a camper van in Leap.

Two of the accused are being dealt with by gardaí at Bandon Garda Station, while the other two come under the jurisdiction of Bantry Garda Station.

Two more of the accused are being dealt with by gardaí at Togher. Another two come under the jurisdiction of Cork’s Bridewell, while the remaining two  are being dealt with by gardaí at Mallow Garda Station.

Two of the accused – who are being dealt with in the West Cork courts of Bandon and Bantry – were legally represented by Siún Hurley of O’Donovan Murphy & Partners Solicitors in Bantry.

Ms Hurley told Judge James McNulty that both of her company’s clients – Kiumaars Ghabiri (51) of Rotterdam in The Netherlands, and Sean Curran (37) of 37 Carrickyheenan Road, Aghnacloy North, Enniskillen, Fermanagh – were consenting to a remand in custody for 28 days until the next sitting of Bantry District Court on April 24th.

Bandon-based solicitor, Plunkett Taaffe, appeared on behalf of Ali Mazidi (48) of 700 South Banke Plauts, 40 3012 Hb in The Netherlands. The solicitor said his client was also consenting to a remand in custody to the April 24th sitting.

Bandon-based solicitor, Myra Dineen, who was representing Mario Angel Del Rio Sanz (44) of no fixed address in Spain, also consented to the four-week remand in custody on behalf of her client.

An armed garda on duty outside Bantry courthouse on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, two men were remanded in custody in the district court to await instructions from the director of public prosecutions (DPP).

The two men, Juan Antonio Gallardo, 55, of 12 Turina Street, Cadiz, Spain and Aleksander Milic, 26, of Svetorgorska 15, Flat 5, Belgrade, Serbia both appeared by video link from Cork Prison at Mallow District Court. A Serbian translator was present to assist Milic and a Spanish translator assisted Gallardo.

Both men agreed to a further four-week extension to the custody period and Judge Colm Roberts remanded both in custody to appear in court again by video link on April 23 for instructions from the DPP.