{"id":301522,"date":"2026-02-16T22:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/301522\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T22:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:23:09","slug":"delivery-driver-caught-with-cannabis-worth-e716k-at-airport-jailed-for-five-years-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/301522\/","title":{"rendered":"Delivery driver caught with cannabis worth \u20ac716k at airport jailed for five years \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A delivery driver caught with \u20ac716,000 of cannabis at Dublin Airport<\/a> has been jailed for five years.<\/p>\n

Riley Burke (25), with an address in Canada, came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court from the District Court on signed pleas of guilty to possession of drugs for sale or supply.<\/p>\n

On Monday, an investigating garda told Justin McQuade, prosecuting barrister, that Burke arrived on a flight from Toronto on July 26th, 2025.<\/p>\n

Cannabis was found when a suitcase burst open before it was placed on the luggage belt. Customs officers used a dog to examine the rest of the baggage on the flight and were alerted to a separate suitcase.<\/p>\n

This second bag was sent on to the luggage belt and Burke collected it, along with a third bag which visually matched the first suitcase which had burst open, but was unconnected.<\/p>\n

Over 35kg of cannabis, worth \u20ac716,200, was found in the suitcases, which did not have Burke\u2019s name on them, but the names of two other people who were not on the flight. CCTV footage showed Burke waiting for the bags and checking labels.<\/p>\n

He was arrested and made no admissions at interview, but was generally co-operative, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Burke told garda\u00ed he was in Ireland as a tourist for a week. He said he usually travelled with two suitcases, one of which was empty to transfer dirty clothes into. He said he forgot he had not checked in any luggage and had picked up the two suitcases by mistake.<\/p>\n

The witness said this explanation was not accepted by garda\u00ed. She said Burke outlined that he had some personal debt, but did not offer this in interview as an explanation for his offending.<\/p>\n

Burke has no previous convictions here, in Canada or in the United States. He has been in custody since his arrest.<\/p>\n

The garda agreed with Marc Thompson, defending counsel, that Burke is at the lowest rung of the ladder and had no financial interest in the drugs.<\/p>\n

Thompson said he is instructed that Burke had a financial debt, which the garda accepted is likely to be true.<\/p>\n

Counsel told the court his instructions are that his client had a debt of $20,000 Canadian dollars (approximately \u20ac12,000) which was restructured to $10,000.<\/p>\n

Burke gave evidence on his own behalf, telling Judge Sin\u00e9ad N\u00ed Ch\u00falach\u00e1in that he built up debts including credit card and payday loans.<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201cworking hard\u201d and had reduced his debt to $4,500 before he got himself into \u201cthis stupid situation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Burke said he was to receive $1,000, which he planned to use to reduce his debt, but he did not receive it. He told the court he is remorseful, and plans to return to Canada, find work and repay any outstanding debt upon his release.<\/p>\n

When Mr McQuade asked him why he took this \u201cenormous risk\u201d instead of working longer or harder, Burke said he was not \u201cthinking clearly of how stupid it was to undertake that risk\u201d.<\/p>\n

Burke\u2019s father also gave evidence, telling the court he did not wish to see his son in trouble here or anywhere else again, and that the family are prepared to support him upon his release.<\/p>\n

Thompson submitted his client\u2019s actions involved a \u201clevel of stupidity\u201d. He asked the court to take into account Burke\u2019s early guilty plea, and that he is doing well in custody.<\/p>\n

Several testimonials and a positive governor\u2019s report were handed to the court. Burke has a good work history, including as a delivery driver.<\/p>\n

Imposing sentence, the judge said this was a \u201cdeliberate act for financial gain\u201d and there was \u201cno suggestion of duress or pressure to participate\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said the amount Burke was due to be paid was small relative to the risk he took, and that there was \u201cno real explanation\u201d before the court for his involvement.<\/p>\n

She noted the considerable value of the drugs and their impact on society. She said she had taken into consideration Burke\u2019s early guilty plea and that his time in prison would be more difficult, as he has no ties to this jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

She backdated the five-year sentence to the date on which Burke went into custody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A delivery driver caught with \u20ac716,000 of cannabis at Dublin Airport has been jailed for five years. Riley…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[142641,61,60,43,142642],"class_list":{"0":"post-301522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-aircarft","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-planes-aer-lingus-ryanair-dublin-airport-aeroplane-airplane"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301522","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=301522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}