Kerry businessman Nathan McDonnell jailed for 12 years over €32m drug trafficking plot

Alison O'Riordan

Once respected business owner Nathan McDonnell was "committed to and invested in" the success of a €32 million crystal meth operation by an organised crime group with links to the notorious Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, the Special Criminal Court has found in jailing him for 12 years.

McDonnell, who had encountered "fierce financial difficulties" and racked up debts of €4 million, was to be paid €150,000 by the Irish gang to store a machine containing the drugs on his premises and arrange for its export to Australia.

Sentencing McDonnell (44) at the non-jury court on Friday, presiding judge Ms Justice Melanie Greally said to describe the defendant as "a mere cog in the wheel" was to undervalue his role.

She said McDonnell had carried out several tasks which demanded a high level of trust and responsibility for the criminal gang, including paying shipping charges, safely storing the drugs for four months, and the using a family contact to help with export requirements.

The judge said the defendant had deceived a legitimate business owner and took responsibility for a forged invoice to facilitate the onward shipment of the machine concealing the drugs. She noted he was "committed to and invested in" the success of the venture.

The former garden centre owner was present in court on Friday wearing a face mask after having his jaw broken in Portlaoise Prison during an assault by a well-known gangland inmate. The court heard he has undergone surgery to attach screws, wires and two plates to his jaw.

His barrister, Michael Bowman SC, defending, informed the court at the outset of the hearing that his client was "viciously assaulted" and therefore his prison sentence would be more onerous on him than it may be for other prisoners.

Regarding McDonnell's knowledge of the nature and quantity of the drugs, Ms Justice Greally found the defendant had ample information about the origin of the machine concealing the drugs, its destination and the involvement of a named individual "to enable him to join the dots".

She added: "He demonstrated recklessness and indifference which was tantamount to knowledge".

The judge said the court could not find evidence that he was under duress when he first chose to embark on the venture.

The non-jury court was previously told that customs officers operating on intelligence had stopped and inspected a container in Cork Port on February 15th, 2024.

Operatives had to work over two days using angle grinders to open up the metal separating machine which had arrived in Cork Port from Central America via Antwerp and the UK, eventually recovering bags of crystal meth valued at €32.4 million. The drugs were to be sent to Australia from Cork Port, but gardaí swooped in just as the machine was about to leave the jurisdiction.

Gardaí, the court heard, had been engaged for over a year investigating an organised criminal group (OCG) operating in the Kerry district. Detective Sergeant David Howard testified that it was a "transnational organised crime group" with one of its "logistical cells" in Kerry as well as other various cells operating in different countries. Its activities were associated with drug trafficking, money laundering and the intimidation of witnesses.

Features of this OCG had "particular connections" with another OCG placed in Mexico, namely – the 'Sinaloa Cartel' – which the court was told are the "biggest drug cartel in the world and have capabilities to reach across continents" and is associated with drug trafficking and murder.

One of the locations searched was the "well-known and respectable" Ballyseedy Garden Centre, and at the time, McDonnell was the chief executive of the centre and companies associated with it. The machine was stored at McDonnell's garden centre in Tralee for several months before being transported to Cork, destined for export to Australia.

The former chief executive of Ballyseedy Restaurant Ltd in Tralee admitted to gardaí in his interviews that he stored the machine and was to be paid €150,000 for his part in the operation – but the defendant told gardaí he was unaware of the contents of the machine.

McDonnell was "very pessimistic" about the future of his business and hoped to make €150,000 for storing the machine and its onward transmission to Australia. However, there was no evidence that the defendant received any of that money.

The father-of-three was described by his defence counsel at that sentencing hearing as now being "effectively toxic" within his own community.

Passing sentence today, Ms Justice Greally said both offences were aggravated by the fact that the criminal organisation had an "international reach" and was associated with drug trafficking, money laundering and violence on a large scale.

In assessing McDonnell's culpability, the judge said the court had considered the vast quantities of the drug involved, as well as its highly addictive nature and the widespread misery and social harm it causes.

She set the headline sentence at 21 years imprisonment for the importation of drugs and at 12 years for facilitating an organised criminal gang.

The judge took into account McDonnell's guilty plea, cooperation, positive good character, the charitable causes he has contributed to, his employment record, his devotion as a father to his three sons and his poor finances.

Ms Justice Greally, sitting with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Grainne Malone, then sentenced McDonnell to 12 years for drug importation and to six years concurrently for facilitating an organised crime group, backdated to when he went into custody.