Pair jailed following €645k drugs seizure

Two men from Dublin have been sentenced following their involvement in a significant drugs seizure and money laundering operation. Patrick Kavanagh, aged 59, of Ballygall Crescent, Finglas, and Patrick Hannon, of Rathvilly Park, Finglas, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of amphetamine and cannabis for sale or supply on 21 August 2017. Gardaí intercepted the pair moving drugs from a storage unit in north Dublin, recovering approximately nine kilogrammes of MDMA and eleven kilogrammes of cannabis herb and resin, with an estimated street value of €645,720. Hannon additionally pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing proceeds of crime, having allowed cheques from companies using false identities to be lodged into his bank account. Judge Melanie Greally imposed concurrent sentences of three years for the money laundering offences. She sentenced Kavanagh to four and a half years with the final eighteen months suspended, and Hannon to six and a half years with the final eighteen months suspended. The judge noted both men occupied lower positions within the criminal hierarchy and had expressed remorse.