A Chinese man, who came to Ireland 10 years ago, but has “not a word of English” has been jailed for three years.
Lin Yan (40) of Kennelsforth Road, Palmerstown Dublin appeared before the Circuit Criminal Court this morning on drugs charges related to a package delivered to him which was found to contain over half-a-million euros worth of cannabis.
Judge Orla Crowe heard how, on the 6th of March this year, Gardaí received information from customs officers about a suspicious pallet which was destined for the address of the accused.
The pallet was found to contain cannabis hidden under Chinese take-away supplies.
Garda Joe Murphy gave evidence of how the National Drugs Unit arranged for a controlled delivery of the package to the address at 11:20pm on the night in question.
Prosecuting counsel, Pieter Le Vert BL told the court how, when undercover officers attempted to deliver the package, there was no answer at the address, but then when they called the phone number supplied to the delivery service, the accused answered the call, saying he would come and collect the package in 15 minutes.
After Yan accepted the package, the undercover Gardaí left the scene, while another officer conducted “unimpeded” surveillance of the accused.
Mr. Le Vert argued that Yan, having opened the package, started “pacing up and down the street”, made a number of phone calls, and attempted to enter another house in the “immediate” vicinity of the delivery address.
He then opened the pallet and removed a box before waking towards the Lucan area before he was stopped and arrested pursuit to drug trafficking legislation.
The drugs discovered in the package weighed 28.5 kg with a total value of €571,000, the court heard.
Defending counsel, Marc Thompson Gorlimund SC argued that his client was on the “lowest rung” of the drug trafficking ladder, and that he had been provided with work and accommodation by those whose level of “culpability” was higher.
Yan, who has “not a word of English” came to Ireland in 2015, works as a chef, and has required an interpreter at every stage of interview in relation to the case, he said.
Mr. Thompson pleaded for leniency, saying that his client has no previous convictions and that he was put “under duress” to partake in the offending, and has “no real support structure” in Ireland.
In spite of this, Yan wishes to stay in Ireland, and is pleading with the court not to imprison him, he said, highlighting that the accused has been in custody since the 6th of March last.
Garda Murphy agreed that Yan, who Mr. Thompson accepted was “caught red handed” with the drugs had “no financial interest” in them, and was “not a person who has a drug problem”.
Mr. Thompson argued that he had been“taken advantage of” because of his situation in Ireland.
Judge Crowe said that the accepted that the accused has “no relatives, no supports, no English” and that custody has been hard for him as such.
She noted that Yan is working in Mountjoy as an enhanced prison and that he came before the courts on signed guilty pleas.
Judge Crowe said that there were “special and exceptional circumstance” which allowed the court to depart from the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in respect of breaches on Section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Further counts of breaches of sections 3 and 15 of the same act were taken into consideration.
The court set a headline sentence of six years, before passing an actual sentence of three years to be backdated to the 7th of March last to give credit for time already served.
Judge Crowe noted that the accused is “a very long way from home with no English” and that he is making a “good fist” of his time in jail.