Drug mule in poor health avoids jail over €50k cannabis bust

A Lithuanian man charged with importing cannabis worth €58,820 through Dublin Airport has received a fully suspended three-year sentence. Egidijus Sniauksta, aged 45, of Wylies Hill, Ballybay, County Monaghan, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the drug seized on 3 February 2016. He had travelled from Alicante in Spain when stopped at customs, where nine vacuum-sealed packages of herbal cannabis were discovered in his luggage. Sniauksta was to receive €1,000 for delivering the drugs to a third party. Judge Terence O'Sullivan noted that while drug mules form part of the drugs trade, Sniauksta was not connected to a criminal organisation and described him as naive. The court considered his significant health difficulties, including frequent falls and loss of consciousness, his previous good work history, early guilty plea, and expressions of remorse. The sentence was suspended in full subject to strict conditions.