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Cloverhill District Court Leah Farrell
Courts

Man granted bail after being charged with €180k worth of drugs

He was charged with unlawfully possessing cocaine, cannabis, MDMA and ketamine.

A MAN CHARGED over a seizure of more than €180,000 worth of a variety of drugs in Tallaght, Dublin, has been granted bail with a travel ban.

Lee Morgan, 27, of Kilmartin Green, Tallaght, was arrested on Saturday by gardaí from the Dublin Crime Response Team and detained under the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 at Kevin Street Garda station.

He was charged with unlawfully possessing cocaine, cannabis, MDMA and ketamine and having them for sale or supply in his room at his address on 3 June, contrary to the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Judge Michele Finan set his bond at €1,000, which must be lodged, with a €5,000 independent surety yet to be approved.

She remanded him in custody with consent to bail to appear at Cloverhill District Court on Thursday pending directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Morgan faced objections to bail when he appeared before Dublin District Court today.

Garda Karl Byrne said Morgan “made no reply” to the charges.

Objecting to bail, Garda Byrne voiced flight risk concerns.

He told the judge that the total value of the seizure was more than €180,000.

It was alleged the drugs were in his bedroom, which was separate from and at the rear of the house.

The garda said more than €5,000 was in the accused’s bedroom.

Garda Byrne said the accused was unemployed but not getting social welfare.

The garda also alleged that the accused had travelled to Turkey in April, and “I don’t know how it was financed”.

He agreed with defence counsel Kevin McCrave that the accused had never been in trouble before, and there was no record of warrants.

He accepted that Morgan had lived at his address all his life and that his parents had come to the hearing.

McCrave told the court that his client’s travel documents were now in Garda possession, and he submitted that a refusal of bail could mean he is in custody for a year before his trial.

On taking up bail, the accused must not apply for a new passport or travel documents, remain in Dublin and “stay out of Dublin Airport and not attempt to travel”.

He would also have to sign on daily at a garda station on release.

Legal aid was granted.