A 65-year-old who tried to bring liquid cocaine into Ireland by swallowing 39 condoms filled with the drug has been jailed for four years.
The Bolivian national admitted he agreed to smuggle more than €90,000 worth of the drug in return for money which he told Gardai he wanted to use to help his family.
Parada Hermen Arteaga was caught during routine profiling at Dublin Airport in March 2014 after getting off a flight from Sao Paulo.
The 65-year-old was taken to Beaumont Hospital because of fears for his safety, where he eventually passed the pellets which weighed 1.28 Kg.
Judge Martin Nolan said “there was a degree of desperation” on Arteaga’s part and he was on the “very lowest rung of this transportation system”.
Gardai involved in the investigation agreed with the court that Arteaga was a drug mule who “had put both his health and life at risk to transport these drugs”.
