DRUGS DEALER IS JAILED AFTER 1MILLION POUND ECSTASY HAUL

A TOP Ulster drugs pusher was captured with almost pounds 1 million of
Ecstasy two months after being freed by a court in the Republic.

Raymond Austin was snared after attempting to crash through a police
checkpoint at Belfast's Grosvenor Road roundabout in June last year.

RUC officers found a hold-all in his Vauxhall Cavalier packed with
almost 61,000 Ecstasy tablets the largest haul ever seized in the province.

But Drugs Squad chiefs were jubilant when Austin was identified as the
driver.

Yesterday, the 33-year-old, who lived at Willow Grove, Banbridge, was
jailed for eight years at Belfast Crown Court, sitting at Antrim,
after admitting possession of drugs with intent to supply.

The Drugs Squad had been tracking the former carpet fitter's movements
for years, suspecting him of being one of the top 20 dealers in
Northern Ireland.

Just two months before his arrest, in April, Austin was handed a
six-year jail sentence, suspended for three years, after Gardai
arrested him in connection with a pounds 450,000 haul of cannabis at
Rosslare.

A security source said: "Obviously, we were delighted when we
discovered the drugs in the car.

"But when we found Austin was behind the wheel it was a real
bonus.

"He imported Ecstasy and cannabis from contacts on the mainland and
sold the drugs through a network which stretched across the province.

"But he had a team of couriers and drivers so it was a stroke of luck
that we got him."RUC Drugs Squad chief David Thompson welcomed the
sentence, saying: "This was a major success for the RUC in the battle
against drugs and the sentence refects the quantity involved."