| Drug smuggler receives 13-year sentence
A MAN who was used by a British drugs courier to carry a case with cocaine
valued over £150,000 from the luggage conveyor belt at Dublin Airport
has been jailed for 13 years.
Rashid Shekale aged 31 was found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal
Court in February of importing almost 4kg of cocaine and having possession
of it for sale or supply on February 7, 2006.
Ali Mohamed aged 37 from Britain the criminal who organised the importation
was jailed in July 2006 for seven years, with two years suspended after
he had pleaded guilty to his role in the crime.
When arrested Shekale initially told gardaí that he was carrying
the case for an elderly lady he had met coming off the aircraft.
He later said he came to Dublin from Amsterdam for a holiday with Mohamed,
who he said was his “friend of over three years”, although
they sat in different parts of the aircraft en route.
He said that Mohamed showed him a case on the conveyor belt at Dublin
airport and asked him to take it off.
He did so because of his friendship with Mohamed, who then told him to
destroy the label on the case. He tore the label into pieces and disposed
of it.
Customs officials stopped him as he walked a few steps behind Mohamed
towards the exit doors and discovered the cocaine.
Mary Ellen Greene SC, defending, said Shekale had left his native Somalia
because of unrest which had cost the life of his father.
He had become a Dutch citizen after being granted asylum there seven years
ago.
She said Shekale had worked in menial jobs to earn money to send back
to his mother and two younger siblings who remained in Somalia.
He was putting his siblings through college and had bought his mother
a house.
Ms Greene said that during his time in prison, Shekale had saved e2
a day to be able to send e1,000 to his family and was hoping to enrol
in an Open University course during his time in jail.
Judge Donagh McDonagh said he was not inclined to be lenient with sentencing.
He refused to accept that Shekale was an innocent victim of the “smoke
and mirrors operation” to bring the drugs into Dublin. |
