Pilot was 'irreplaceable asset' in Midlands €8.4m cocaine operation, jury told

Tom Tuite

The pilot of a light aircraft that transported €8.4 million of cocaine into the Midlands from France in 2022 was irreplaceable and a “valuable asset” in this venture, a jury has heard.

Counsel for the State, Cathal Ó Braonáin BL, said 44-year-old Cessna pilot Michal Luczak was “key to the success” of the operation, and would have been a “wildcard” risk to a criminal organisation if he had not known what the four-seater aircraft was carrying.

Mr Ó Braonáin was making his closing speech in the case at Mullingar Circuit Court on Friday.

In his final arguments, Mr Luczak’s defence senior counsel, John Shortt, warned jurors there was not a jot of evidence to say his client knew what was on the plane, and he urged them not to make a gigantic leap into the unknown or convict Mr Luczak.

The Polish pilot has pleaded not guilty to unlawful possession of cocaine, possessing it for the purpose of sale or supply, and the possession and importation of drugs worth €13,000 or more at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, Co Longford, on August 4th, 2022.

The trial, which commenced on October 7th and involved more than 50 witnesses, including surveillance gardaí named only by initials. Evidence was given that a Cessna 182 aircraft, owned by eight shareholders, including Mr Luczak, left Abbeyshrule Aerodrome bound for Le Touquet Airport in France on August 3rd, 2022.

Mr Luczak was accompanied by Timothy Gilchrist, and the pair stayed overnight before flying to Dieppe airport, also in France, the next day.

Jurors heard that the aircraft returned with 120 kilos of cocaine in five sports bags and one suitcase.

A garda surveillance operation had been put in place at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, where the Cessna was unloaded. All six bags were put in Gilchrist’s Alfa Romeo car and driven away before Gilchrist was stopped by gardaí at Lough Owel outside of Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.

Mr Luczak, formerly of Primrose Avenue, Jigginstown, Naas, Co. Kildare, and now residing in Dublin 12, left the aerodrome in a black Mercedes car. He was stopped and arrested by gardaí at Collinstown, Co. Westmeath.

On Thursday, father-of-one Timothy Gilchrist (57) of Mavis Bank, Newrath, Co Kilkenny, told the jury he had been jailed for 11 years and six months for his role in collecting the drugs. Gilchrist testified that he had been threatened and attacked a few years before, and he did not really have a choice.

He said these people knew he was interested in flying, and he feared for his daughter's life and his own; afterwards, he was told to bring the bags back from France.

He told the jury that the pilot did not know there were drugs on board: “I didn’t want to tell him I was carrying anything suspicious because he would have gone straight to the authorities.”

“He [the defendant] knew nothing about this,” Gilchrist stated. He said he was interested in flying and that he had been introduced to the defendant by a friend two or three years earlier, and they had taken trips together to England, Belgium, and France, with him paying for the fuel.

He also said he was sick at the time and collected the bags from a group of angry men who had arrived at Dieppe Airport.

He gave evidence that he loaded the plane when the defendant was not around and felt dreadful about it, later telling the accused the bags contained books and research papers belonging to his brother. He also stated that he alone unloaded the bags at Abbeyshrule and placed them in his car.

In his closing speech, Mr Ó Braonáin told the jury on Friday that the pilot did not record in the flight from Dieppe in his log and that he was fully aware of the regulations.

He told them that if his version was correct, why had he not helped his ill friend Gilchrist carry the heavy bags? Counsel asked the jury not to accept the account of Gilchrist and his evidence that he was approached and threatened when he could not fly and did not own a plane.

The prosecutor also referred to evidence that one of the people on the ground at the aerodrome, who had been in contact with Gilchrist, also had the defendant’s phone number.

Mr Shortt SC delivered his speech to the jurors, telling them his client was a passionate flyer, who worked in transport, had studied law in Poland, was helping his friend Gilchrist, and was putting in as much practice as possible as they went on trips together.

Counsel also told the jury to heed that two other individuals described in the hearing as “spotters” on the ground at the aerodrome were never arrested or prosecuted.

Mr Shortt said the Gilchrist never wavered in his account that Mr Luczak did not know what was going on. He told them to note that gardaí on surveillance at the aerodrome had no notebook entries to record, as claimed by one prosecution witness, that Mr Luczak, “shadowed” Gilchrist as he placed the bags into his car.

He also argued that his client had been under no obligation to search the bags or look in them while he was flying from Dieppe, and there was no evidence that he knew what they contained other than what the accused told him, which he accepted at face value.

Judge Roderick Maguire will continue his address to the jury on Tuesday before they commence deliberations.