Sligo man remanded for cocaine find

Sligo man remanded for ‘red handed’ cocaine find in Ballina

Half-kilo of drug found in tent-dweller's rucksack

Anton McNulty
antonmcnulty@mayonews.ie

A SLIGO man who was caught ‘red-handed’ with between €20,000 and €30,000 worth of cocaine in Ballina last Thursday will appear before today’s sitting of Ballina District Court.
Mark Farrell of no fixed abode was arrested by gardaí at 4.06pm on Thursday afternoon, March 21 and was later charged with the possession of a controlled drug for sale or supply. The following day he appeared before Castlebar District Court where he was remanded in custody to appear before today’s (Tuesday) sitting of Ballina District Court.
The defendant was arrested on Kevin Barry Street, Ballina for the alleged possession of a half a kilo of suspected cocaine which was found in a rucksack. It is believed that the defendant was acting as a courier and was under garda surveillance at the time of the arrest.
Detective Sergeant Jim Caden told the court that Mr Farrell was ‘caught red-handed’ with cocaine with a suspected street value of over €20,000 but that was yet to be confirmed.
Mr Farrell had applied for bail but gardaí objected to the application on the grounds he had no permanent address and had given ‘no fixed abode’ when arrested. Det Sgt Caden said they were informed he was living in a tent in woods in Sligo.
Det Sgt Caden explained that Mr Farrell had nine different addresses and told gardaí he had been living with his girlfriend at an address in Sligo. When the gardaí called to the residence there was nobody there and they were later informed they were given the wrong house number.
Ms Laura Spellman, solicitor for the defendant said he was born and bred in Sligo and had no passport and was never out of Ireland before. She said she spoke to his girlfriend and said he would be able to stay with her. The court heard he was a former drug addict and his girlfriend was pregnant and due to give birth in August.
However, Judge Mary Devins was told he had three previous bench warrants for not appearing in court and she said she could not possibly grant bail.  She remanded him in custody to appear before today’s sitting of Ballina District Court.
The seizure of the cocaine in Ballina was one of the largest seizures in a number of years after the demand for the class A drug fell in the county in the last three years. A Garda spokesperson told The Mayo News that the amount seized is small for cities but is a big amount for country towns in the west of Ireland.
The spokesperson said that the demand for cocaine has fallen in the last three years and the quality of the drug coming into the county would not be of a high quality. However, he said the seizure showed that it was still in demand despite this.

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