ACCUSED WAS A 'BIG PLAYER' IN SMUGGLING OF ECSTASY

A CORKMAN convicted of drugs possession was described in a Dutch court,
yesterday, as a big player in a long-running ecstasy trafficking network
between the Netherlands and Ireland.

Sean O'Flynn (48) of Arigadeen Lawn, Togher, Cork, travelled frequently to
Holland arranging ecstasy shipments until his arrest here last August, his
trial in Utrecht heard.

The accused, who had served a three-year sentence in Spain for possession
of 104 kilos of hashish, came out of prison there late last year, judges
heard. O'Flynn had a large number of convictions in Ireland, none of them
drugs related, and according to reports from Interpol and the gardai, it
was stated he had left the country and gone into offshore activities in 1995.

He was arrested in Utrecht on August 15 last, having being tailed by a
police undercover team, who found 25,000 ecstasy tablets in the boot of a
red Volkswagen Polo in which he and a Dutch accomplice were travelling. His
arrest was the culmination of a major garda surveillance operation
spearheaded by the Garda National Drugs Unit and Cork Drugs Squad, and by
the time O'Flynn arrived in Holland on August 9, allegedly carrying Pounds
45,000 to buy ecstasy, he was under observation.

He was secretly filmed picking up the sportsbag containing the tablets from
a Dutch national, believed to be a ring-leader in a long-running ecstasy
smuggling racket between Holland and Ireland. Taps on mobile phones
revealed that O'Flynn made numerous calls in which prices, pick up points
and details on transportation of the drugs were discussed.

A Dutch police team, began a surveillance operation of a number of Dutch
criminals with whom O'Flynn was in contact last June. A confiscated diary
of drugs deals kept by O'Flynn's co-accused, Dutchman Rob de Krijger whose
own trial was postponed, mentioned at least four visits by the Corkman with
notes about orders involving thousands of ecstasy tables on different
dates. It also referred to 132,500 guilders which O'Flynn allegedly brought
to Holland to buy 30,000 ecstasy tablets for shipment back to Ireland last
August.

According to his co-accused, O'Flynn was unhappy about letting others do
the transporting of the ecstasy, and he was planning to get his own van or
lorry to move shipments.

Describing O'Flynn as a central figure in a big-time ecstasy smuggling
racket, Dutch public prosecutor Mrs Chila van der Bas called for a
four-year jail term, heavy by Dutch standards, for possession and
trafficking of ecstasy. The bearded grey-haired accused man told judges he
knew there were ecstasy tablets in the car but he had nothing to do with
them. He claimed that he was only a small man who went along for the craic
from A to B. Asked who the tablets were intended for and what he was doing
in the car he mumbled: "I cannot say anything about that."

O'Flynn whispered all his answers into the ear of his interpreter who,
speaking in Dutch, told judges he was unhappy to discuss his personal
circumstances because of the presence of the Irish media. O'Flynn's Dutch
lawyer said that as a result of media reports about him, O'Flynn's wife in
Cork was abused on the streets; his children were victimised and his
daughter could not find work. She said the family were in very poor
circumstances and could not afford to visit Holland.

Judges will deliver their verdict on December 31.

Checked-by: Richard Lake