{"id":298172,"date":"2026-02-14T18:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/298172\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T18:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:42:09","slug":"mother-found-with-e250000-in-car-boot-charged-under-money-laundering-legislation-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/298172\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother found with \u20ac250,000 in car boot charged under money-laundering legislation \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Dublin mother accused of transporting a suitcase holding \u20ac275,000 in suspected crime proceeds told garda\u00ed<\/a> it \u201ccould have been drugs or a dead body for all she knew\u201d, it is alleged.<\/p>\n

The seizure on Friday was part of an operation by the Dublin Crime Response Team, which intercepted a car in Ballsbridge<\/a>, Dublin 4<\/a>, and arrested the sole occupant.<\/p>\n

Suzann Mack (34) of Strand Street, Malahide<\/a>, in the city\u2019s north side, was charged under money-laundering legislation for possessing the alleged proceeds of criminal conduct at Northumberland Road.<\/p>\n

She appeared at Dublin District Court<\/a> on Saturday and was released on conditional bail of \u20ac1,000 pending directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions<\/a> (DPP).<\/p>\n

Garda Colin O\u2019Shea told Judge Treasa Kelly that Mack was caught red-handed in the \u201ccash drop\u201d but made no reply when charged.<\/p>\n

He opposed bail, citing flight risk concerns given the seriousness of the case. He alleged that the mother of two was stopped driving her Volkswagen Passat, and a suitcase found in the boot contained bundles of \u20ac25,000. The defendant was arrested and taken to Irishtown<\/a> Garda station.<\/p>\n

During her interview, she allegedly told the garda that she was contacted and told to pick up the suitcase from an unspecified location, the court heard.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Shea told the judge that the woman gave a \u201cvague account\u201d and she had a \u201chide drawer\u201d in a second car located in another part of the city, but she denied having any knowledge of that vehicle.<\/p>\n

The court heard that when questioned about the money in the suitcase, she told garda\u00ed \u201cit could have been drugs or a dead body for all she knew\u201d, and she maintained she was to be paid \u20ac200, and it was her third time. The court also heard she had a debt.<\/p>\n

Defence counsel Kevin McCrave said his client faced an obvious serious charge, which the judge said would likely be sent to the Circuit Court<\/a>, which has broader sentencing powers. He stressed that his client had agreed to hand over her passport, had children and had lived at the same address for several years.<\/p>\n

The garda conceded to the barrister that Mack did not have a history of failing to appear in court.<\/p>\n

McCrave listed several terms his client would agree to and argued that his unemployed client did not have the financial means to leave the jurisdiction and establish a new life in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

He also said a relative of Mack depended on her to bring her to hospital appointments.<\/p>\n

The garda replied that the accused was allegedly involved in a criminal enterprise and was charged with possession of a large amount of illicit cash.<\/p>\n

The judge held that the woman could be granted bail with strict terms: surrender her passport, notify of any address change, provide her phone number to garda\u00ed and be contactable by phone at all times, and sign on two days a week at her local Garda station.<\/p>\n

Mack, who has yet to enter a plea, took up bail and will appear again later this month.<\/p>\n

The charge is contrary to section seven of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, an offence punishable, on conviction, by a sentence of up to 14 years. Legal aid was granted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Dublin mother accused of transporting a suitcase holding \u20ac275,000 in suspected crime proceeds told garda\u00ed it \u201ccould…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,17467,13553,16186,4506,8411,61,60,141570,1455,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-298172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-ballsbridge","10":"tag-circuit-court","11":"tag-director-of-public-prosecutions","12":"tag-dublin-4","13":"tag-dublin-district-court","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-irishtown","17":"tag-malahide","18":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}