MAN FORCED TO SMUGGLE DRUGS GETS THREE YEARS

A man who was forced into smuggling pounds 194,000 of cannabis from the
North has been jailed for three years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Eric McGill was forced into smuggling the cannabis after injuring a member
of a drugs gang in a fight the night before the run.

Garda Ambrose Whitty said gardai accepted McGill was used as a replacement
for the injured man. He told Mr Paul McDermott SC, prosecuting, that McGill
feared the drugs gang, which was connected to "other organisations" in the
North. His family had since been threatened by the gang and he had been
forced to move house at least three times.

McGill (40), of Abbey Hill, Hollywood, Co Down, pleaded guilty to
possession of 19 kg of cannabis with intent to supply on the Lucan Road,
Dublin, on October 22nd, 1997.

Garda Whitty said the National Drugs Unit stopped two cars on the N4
motorway after receiving confidential information. The 19 kilos of cannabis
were found in the passenger footwell of McGill's car, and another two kilos
were found in the second car. As two men were being taken from the second
car by gardai, they shouted at McGill not to admit anything. Garda Whitty
agreed with Mr Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, that the two men failed to
appear at the court yesterday for trial and were believed to have left the
jurisdiction.

Mr Hartnett told Judge Elizabeth Dunne that the case was "one of the most
exceptional drug-courier cases to have come before the court".

He said McGill could have claimed duress as a complete defence but had
pleaded guilty and was asking for the mercy of the court. Judge Dunne said
she accepted the gang had intimidated McGill's family and she suspended the
last two years of the sentence.