MAN CAUGHT WITH #1/2M WORTH OF COCAINE JAILED

A man who accidentally contracted Hepatitis C in custody has been jailed for
10 years for having #500,000 worth of cocaine for sale.

John Francis Conlon (58) was caught with the cocaine at the East Link
Tollbridge road in Dublin during a major Garda surveillance operation in
1992.

Conlon, a native of Westport, Co Mayo, married with three children and with
an address at Allisons Road, Miami Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty at Dublin
Circuit Criminal Court to having the cocaine for sale or supply on September
3rd, 1992.

Judge Cyril Kelly at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court directed that his
sentence date from September 1994, when he was taken into custody in England
and held for extradition after having absconded while on bail.

Judge Kelly had presided at the trial of two co-accused in the same case -
Eamonn Kelly Snr of Furry Park Road, Killester and Elizabeth Canabas
Yamanaha, a Spanish-Cuban exile who then lived in Miami Beach, Florida.

Kelly was jailed for 14 years and Yamanaha for seven years. Her conviction
was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Judge Kelly suspended the final five years of Conlon's sentence on the
grounds of his age, his serious bad health, his peripheral role in the
crime, his guilty plea and the 31/2 years he had spent in custody.

Detective Superintendent Martin Callanan told prosecuting counsel Mr Denis
Vaughan Buckley SC (with Mr George Birmingham) that Conlon left Ireland in
1959 and owned property in Miami and in Norfolk, England. He had no previous
convictions.

Det Supt Callanan said members of the Garda Serious Crime Squad saw Conlon
with Kelly in a van in Dublin Airport car park. Kelly drove them around
Dublin.

Conlon withdrew #2,000 from his account at the Bank of Ireland, Pembroke
Road, and eventually went to Yamanaha's room at Jury's Hotel, Ballsbridge.
Kelly remained in the van.

Conlon emerged carrying a plastic bag, and rejoined Kelly. Kelly drove off,
followed by the surveillance team, and went through two sets of red traffic
lights in the East Link toll bridge direction. Irishtown Garda station had
been alerted and Det Inspector Tom Dixon stopped Kelly's van.

Both Kelly and Conlon refused to co-operate in a drugs search and were
arrested. The plastic bag containing the cocaine was found in a panel
aperture in the van.

Det Supt Callanan said Conlon initially denied ever having seen or carried
the plastic bag, or handled it. He later claimed he was told by Kelly to
give #2,000 to Yamanaha who would "give him something". He said he thought
there was "something shady" about the bag but did not know what was in it. i
he flew from Miami Beach to London in the company of a Rome-based Italian
businessman called Francis Bonetti who had been introduced to him by another
Irishman sometime previously. The Italian took a flight from London to Rome
while Conlon flew on to Dublin.

Det Supt Callanan agreed with Mr Hugh Hartnett SC (with Mr Tom Clancy),
defending, that Eamonn Kelly Snr had many serious criminal convictions.

He also agreed that Conlon had a serious heart condition and had not seen
his family for almost six years. He had been in custody in England from
December 1994 until May 21st last year.

Mr Hartnett said Conlon contracted Hepatitis C while in custody by handling
bloodstained clothes belonging to an infected fellow-inmate. He also
suffered from serious heart trouble.

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"