A LIMERICK barman and landscape gardener, charged in connection with a half a million euro cocaine seizure, was a “crucial” link to an organised criminal gang with connections in Spain, a court heard.
Dade Richter, (27), with an address at Curragh Birin, Castletroy, appeared before Limerick District Court, charged with one count of possession of €494,000 of cocaine for sale or supply, as well as one count of simple possession of the cocaine.
A Garda attached to the Limerick Divisional Drugs Unit told the court gardai found the drugs haul concealed in a false floor compartment inside a van being driven by Mr Richter when they intercepted it at Kilfrush, Hospital, Co Limerick, at around 2.40pm, last Saturday.
Objecting to bail, Detective Sergeant Declan O’Halloran told the court: “My belief is that the organised criminal group that the defendant works for provided him with this vehicle which was custom-adapted or modified with a concealed compartment.”
“This compartment was solely for the purpose of transporting mass wholesale cocaine in the southern region, and the compartment was a means for evading detection.”
Det Sgt O’Halloran said the accused’s van “temporarily broke down” while gardai were driving it back to a garda station for the purposes of searching it.
When gardai eventually searched the van at the garda station they discovered 39 “vacuum-packed” packages of cocaine worth almost €500,000, as well as €3,000 cash wrapped in clingfilm.
Det Sgt O’Halloran said Mr Richter was arrested and questioned as part of “an operation targeting the sale and supply of cocaine in the southern region”.
Photographs were shown to the court of what Det Sgt O’Halloran agreed with prosecuting Sergeant Denis Waters, that the system for opening the lock on the “modified” false floor compartment was “sophisticated”.
Det Sgt O’Halloran said the hidden compartment could be opened by tapping a charging cable on a custom-made screw located under the car’s steering column.
Det Sgt O’Halloran said gardai suspected the accused was acting as a drugs courier for an organised crime gang with links abroad.
The witness said it was his belief that Mr Richter had been traveling to an area of Ballylanders, Co Limerick, to conduct a “drugs transaction” when gardai intercepted his van last Saturday.
“I believe he is crucial to the organised criminal group,” Det Sgt O’Halloran alleged.
Det Sgt O’Halloran said it was his belief that Mr Richter was a flight risk and “may attempt to leave the jurisdiction”. He said the accused had recently applied for a new passport, and he said gardai were in possession of his current passport which was nearing its expiration date.
The garda witness alleged the accused had access to twenty Spanish ‘Telefonica’ mobile phone SIM cards, “and I believe these SIM cards were provided to him by the organised criminal group that he works for, for discreet use and secure communications here in Ireland and abroad”.
The accused was found with two mobile phones, one of which included a Spanish contact number which Det Sgt O’Halloran said he believed “to be a leading member of an organised criminal group for which he is working for”.
Det Sgt O’Halloran said it was his belief that, “if granted bail, the accused will commit further more serious offences, and will continue to be engage in the sale and supply and wholesale distribution of controlled drugs”.
He said it was his belief the accused also had “access to cash and foreign sources”.
Mr Richter’s solicitor, John Herbert, said the accused worked in hotels and bars in Limerick and Kerry before traveling to Spain in 2022, where he lived for a year after Covid 19 hit and he had been out of work.
The accused returned to Ireland in 2024 and began working as a landscape gardener, he said.
Det Sgt O’Halloran agreed with Mr Herbert that the accused had “no trappings of wealth” and that he was the owner of a 2014 Audi.
Mr Herbert said his instructions were that the SIM cards did not belong to his client and that if a Spanish contact number was allegedly found on mobile phones seized by gardai, it might be a contact number for a “friend” of the accused.
Judge Patricia Harney said Mr Richter continues to enjoy the “presumption of innocence” until proven otherwise.
The judge said she was satisfied to accept Det Sgt O’Halloran’s evidence and she refused bail.
Mr Richter was remanded in custody to appear before Limerick District Court on December 9, for directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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