Jamie Kearns jailed for three and a half years over cannabis bound for Donegal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Jamie Kearns was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for importing cannabis from Thailand that was destined for Donegal. Judge Martin Nolan backdated the sentence to the date Kearns entered custody. The court heard Kearns had pleaded guilty to possession and importation of drugs and had no previous convictions.

Customs officers stopped Kearns at Dublin Airport on February 12, 2025, after he arrived from Thailand via Doha. They found 24.472kg of cannabis, valued at €489,440, in 48 vacuum-packed bags. Garda Peter Mullins told the court that Kearns admitted the offences and had been acting as a drug courier. The judge said he would depart from the mandatory minimum 10-year sentence, citing Kearns’s youth and guilty pleas.