Spanish crane driver who agreed to import cannabis valued at €143,000 into Ireland

Spanish crane driver who agreed to import cannabis valued at €143,000 into Ireland when he fell into financial problems after losing his job has been given a seven-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Borja Calurano (aged 27) of Calle Urbanizacion, Pamplona, Noain, pleaded guilty to possession of the drugs for sale or supply at Dublin Airport on November 14, 2009. He has no previous convictions.

Judge Katherine Delahunt imposed a sentence of seven years but suspended the final two years on strict conditions including that he leave the country within 48 hours of his release and not return for seven years.

Garda Garvan Lennon told Ms Anne Maire Lawlor BL, prosecuting, that customs officer Bruce Heller stopped and searched Calurano in the arrivals hall of the airport because he appeared nervous and in a hurry.

When his suitcase was x-rayed it revealed “inconsistencies” and a search yielded 12 cellophane wrapped bars of cannabis resin. He told gardaí there was “hashish” in the suitcase and was surprised when told it was valued at €143,000.

Gda Lennon agreed with defence counsel, Mr Michael D. Hourigan BL, that Calurano had been directed to go to a certain hotel and said he was to be paid €2,000 for the trip.

Mr Hourigan said Calurano came from a family of “people of good character”, many of whom were in court to support him, and who were “devastated” by the case.

He said Calurano had worked throughout his life, first as a plumber and then as a crane driver, but found himself unemployed and unentitled to social welfare payments in Spain because he had not registered within the required time frame as he had been busy seeking work.

Mr Hourigan said Calurano and his partner had been relying on her wage when an acquaintance suggested this enterprise. He has written a letter of apology to the court and to the people of Ireland.

He asked Judge Delahunt to take into account his early guilty plea, his vulnerability, his remorse and the fact that he will serve his sentence as a non-national with no friends or family in this country.


Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/spaniard-gets-seven-years-for-transporting-cannabis-479549.html#ixzz13j9dtWJW