Roger Bergin sought by France to serve sentence for firearms offences

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

Roger Bergin, of Teffia Park, Longford town, was fighting extradition to France, where he was wanted to serve a custodial term for the transportation of war materials. The proceedings were reported on 24 February 2022.

Bergin, then 55, was arrested in January 2003 after customs officials found 775 kilos of cannabis resin and 15.1 kilos of cocaine in a truck at Le Perthus, on the France-Spain border. Two handguns, a silencer, ammunition, €5,500 and two mobile phones were found in a secret compartment. Bergin was a passenger; his brother Michael was driving.

He was later charged with offences relating to drug trafficking and the unauthorised possession and transportation of war materials, arms and ammunition, and was jailed for four years. He was released from prison in Perpignan on 12 January 2005 and acquitted of the firearms offences on his release. French prosecutors later successfully appealed the decision not to jail him for those offences. A European Arrest Warrant was issued in February 2006.

At the High Court extradition hearing, Lisa Dempsey BL, for the Minister of Justice, said Bergin had two years and 18 days of his French sentence left to serve. Bergin argued that French authorities had known his Irish address for more than 17 years without seeking his arrest and that issuing the warrant now infringed his right to fair procedures.

Bergin also claimed he was told he could appeal the decision to jail him for the firearms offences only after the five-day appeal limit had passed, although he had attended the French appeal hearing. Ms Justice Caroline Biggs described the claimed denial of an appeal as the “crux of it” and said no further appeal process was open to him. The case was adjourned until 23 March.