A MAN from Co. Kerry has been jailed for 12 years today after being found guilty of helping Mexico’s infamous Sinaloa Cartel to import the biggest consignment of crystal meth in the history of the State.
44-year-old Nathan McDonnell, who ran the Ballyseedy Garden Centre in Tralee, was found to have used his place of business as a store for the passage and transportation of more than €32 million worth of methylamphetamine. He also tried to arrange for further movement of the drug to its final destination in Australia.
Mr. McDonnell is understood to have had no previous convictions, and pleaded guilty to the importation of drugs into Cork on 16 October 2023. He also pleaded guilty to facilitating the activities of a criminal organisation between that date and 12 February 2024.
The Ballyseedy Garden Centre had been in McDonnell’s family for years, but was reputedly on the point of collapse owing close to €1 million to the Revenue Commission. Mr. McDonnell agreed to hold drugs for the Sinaloa Cartel on the understanding that he would be paid €150,000. He never received this money.
Customs officials at Cork Port found more than €32 million worth of crystal meth stored in plastic bags which had been placed inside a plastic drum on 15 February 2024. Gardaí subsequently searched a premises in Listowel, Co. Kerry, and discovered mobile phones, sim cards and passport documents with proven links to the Sinaloa Cartel.
The dangerous nature of the case was highlighted after McDonnell told gardaí that he lived in fear of one of the men who hired him; a man who, by all accounts, had an ‘extensive history of interpersonal violence’.
McDonnell was later assaulted in Portlaoise Prison and has undergone surgery this week which required the insertion of screws, wires and plates into his jaw. His defence counsel, Michael Bowman, requested additional security for Mr. McDonnell on that basis.
