Knockbridge Farmer Gets Decade in Prison for €1.6 Million Cannabis Stash
A 54-year-old man from County Louth received a ten-year custodial sentence after authorities discovered more than 80 kilos of cannabis during an undercover delivery to his farm.
Knockbridge Farmer Gets Decade in Prison for €1.6 Million Cannabis Stash
A man from County Louth who told investigators he had nothing to hide has been handed a ten-year prison sentence for drug offences.
John Prendergast, 54, residing at Mill Park in Knockbridge, was convicted at Dundalk Circuit Court of possessing cannabis with intent to distribute. The charge falls under a section of Irish law that sets a mandatory minimum decade-long term when the value of narcotics surpasses €13,000.
The case centred on a pallet that arrived at the defendant's property following an interception at Dublin Port. Customs officials and detectives from the national drug squad arranged a monitored drop-off, with an officer driving the vehicle and a detective riding along.
The consignment bore a shipping label from a Dutch textiles company, addressed to a business name that investigators later said they could not verify existed. Prendergast signed for the load and transferred it into an outbuilding using lifting equipment.
When opened, the pallet revealed eighteen sealed packages containing over eighty-one kilograms of herbal cannabis. Experts placed the potential resale value at roughly €1.6 million.
Under questioning, the accused maintained he thought the delivery held air filtration equipment. The presiding judge, Dara Hayes, rejected this account, pointing out the absence of any company records matching the name on the label.
Prendergast's record includes twenty-two prior findings of guilt, mostly for motoring and revenue violations. The court heard he cares for an ageing parent and a sibling with special needs.
Judge Hayes imposed the statutory ten-year term for the primary count, alongside shorter concurrent sentences for related charges. Credit will be given for the period already served on remand.
Source: RTÉ News
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