NEWRY MAN DENIES ECSTASY CHARGE

A man accused of transporting ecstasy worth IEP1.5 million claimed he
was handed a written statement by garda and then told them "F..k
it, I'll sign it" without reading it.

His comment was not recorded by garda, he said in Dublin Circuit
Criminal Court in his continued cross-examination on the 14th day of
his trial. He alleged he later discovered that garda had altered
the wording of his statement to make it look like he knew about the
drugs.

Mr Declan Donaghy (27), of Parkview, Newtowncloughe, Newry, Co Down,
denies having the ecstasy for sale or supply at Santry Avenue, Dublin,
on April 29th, 1998. Mr Padraig Dwyer, prosecuting, alleges that Mr
Donaghy agreed to transport the ecstasy from England on behalf of a
Dundalk-based drug dealer.

Cross-examined by Mr Dwyer, he said that after he was taken to Santry
Garda station, detectives tried to get him "to set up" another man. He
refused to do that.

Mr Donaghy agreed he had arranged to meet the man at a haulage depot
in Ballymun to hand over two hold-all bags but denied knowing that
they contained 101,000 ecstasy tablets. He added: "I can look back now
but at the time I didn't believe they contained anything except
cigarettes."

The accused denied that he "got greedy" and gave in to offers of money
from drug dealers. He also denied that he was offered a second-hand
car in exchange for transporting the drugs. Mr Dwyer said he was not
suggesting that the accused was anything other than a courier, to
which Donaghy replied: "I wouldn't even class myself as a courier."

The trial has gone into closing submissions before Judge Frank
O'Donnell and the jury.