MAN WHO DELIVERED DRUGS MONEY IS JAILED

A businessman who carried almost £3 million out of the State for the leader
of a criminal drugs organisation has been jailed for five years by Dublin
Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Cyril Kelly was told that Russell Warren personally delivered £2.7
million in cash to this man from April to September 1996.

The first deliveries were made in Dublin but "after a certain event" most
of them were made in The Meeting Place Cafe at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam
where the gang leader had moved. Some were made in Dover and Calais.

Det Sgt James B. Hanley said Garda investigations indicated the gang leader
grossed about £16.8 million in the period from 1994 to September 30th,
1996, mainly from the sale of cannabis resin.

Mr Eamonn Leahy SC (with Mr Peter Charleton SC), prosecuting, told the
court that Warren has been given immunity in writing by the Director of
Public Prosecutions that he would not be charged in relation to the murder
of journalist Veronica Guerin.

Warren is to give evidence in the trials of selfconfessed Guerin murder
suspect, Mr John Gilligan, and others charged with serious crimes despite
being issued with a death threat by what was called "a ruthless criminal"
after he was first arrested by gardai last year.

Det Sgt Hanley said gardai took the death threats on Warren and his family
seriously. Despite these threats, Warren gave further "substantial
information" to the Gardai which helped to stop the gang's operation or at
least seriously disrupt it.

Judge Kelly was told that Warren's wife, Deborah, was also under death
threats from the gangleader and his associates. She and her mother were
both under 24hour armed Garda protection now and for the foreseeable future.

Mr Paul O'Higgins SC (with Mr Luan O Braonain BL), defending, said Warren's
and his family's lives had been changed irrevocably through his fault.

Warren was held in unique isolation in custody under a witness protection
regime. Neither he nor his wife would be able to live in Ireland in the
future and would have to start a new life in some foreign country.

Warren (34), a selfemployed director of D+R Building Cleaning, with an
address at Heatherview Terrace, Tallaght, affirmed 16 pleas of guilty he
signed on August 26th last at the Dublin District Court concerning the
money laundering and one plea of stealing a motorbike.

He admitted stealing a Kawasaki GPZ 750cc motorcycle at Royal Terrace West,
Dun Laoghaire, between May 15th and June 7th, 1996. It was valued at £2,500.

Warren also pleaded guilty to handling £56,505 and £7,100 sterling on
September 30th, 1996 at Heatherview Drive, Tallaght, knowing it in whole or
part, directly or indirectly, represented the proceeds of another person's
drug distribution.

He further admitted that on or about September 28th, 1996 in the carpark
of the Belgard Inn, Tallaght, and that on a date unknown between June 26th
and September 30th, 1996 he similarly handled sums of £10,000.

Warren also pleaded guilty to 13 further charges of handling amounts
unknown on dates from April 1st to September 30th, 1996.

Judge Kelly said that while Warren had to be punished for his serious
offences, the court also had to reward him because he had given invaluable
assistance to the Gardai in respect of very serious crimes. The prosecution
was happy he would give evidence in court against his former associates.

It was in the public interest that people who had been involved in serious
crimes should be rewarded through substantial credit on their sentences
when they pleaded guilty to their offences and then assisted through
information and evidence in helping to convict others involved.

Judge Kelly granted an application by the State for the forfeiture of the
£63,605 which the court heard Warren had hidden at his parents' home while
waiting for instructions from the gang leader about it.

He observed it was "somewhat ironic" that this money would now be used by
the State to help set up a new life for Warren and his wife when he was
freed from jail.