Taxi driver ‘told deliver sock and envelope with €28k’
A man described as a ‘humble’ Louth taximan was asked to do a run to Limerick and collect two parcels.
On his arrival in Limerick, he discovered that an envelope and a sock he picked up from men at two filling stations contained almost €28,000 in cash.
Derek Gallagher, aged 51, of 20 Church St, Drogheda, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to handling or transferring money contrary to the money laundering legislation.
Det Garda David Boland said he and Det Garda Martin McCarthy stopped a VW van on the M7 near Limerick on November 7, 2013.
The accused was driving the vehicle and on searching a glove compartment they found a brown envelope with €14,000 in cash and a black sock with €13,950 in cash.
Gallagher said he had been asked by a man in Drogheda to do a run to Limerick to pick up two packages for a fee of €200.
He was directed by phone on his way down the M7 to go to two different filling stations on the Tipperary Road.
Det Garda Boland said Gallagher was very frightened when he discovered what was in the envelope and sock before he was intercepted by the gardaí.
He said a man he thought to be a gentleman he had known in Drogheda asked him to collect the ‘two parcels’ and this was the first and last time he was asked to do something of this nature.
Anthony Sammon, counsel for the defence, said Gallagher was a humble taximan who had never been in trouble in his life and was ashamed and embarrassed over what he got involved in.
Gallagher, he said, was used by cunning criminals.
Judge Tom O’Donnell
adjourned sentence to July 21.
