Abstracts: January 2002

January 25, 2002
Prison For 'Vulnerable' Women Drug Runners
According to this article:
Three cases of South African women being used by Nigerians to smuggle drugs into Ireland were heard by Judge Elizabeth Dunne on June 11, 2001. Judge Dunne stated that these women were all "vulnerable, in dire financial difficulties, and ready and available to be used for what seems to our eyes to be very small amounts of money considering the risk".

South African, Natasha Carollissen ( 29 ) pled guilty and was sentenced to four years for smuggling UKP35,000 worth of cannabis. She had been approached in Johannesburg by a Nigerian man and was offered $1000.00 to carry a package to Dublin. She had hoped to use the money to be reunited with her five year old daughter.

Anne Marie Swanpole (45), from Durban, was sentenced to three years. She had smuggled nearly UKP44,000 worth of cannabis into Ireland on behalf of Nigerians. Her husband was in jail in South Africa and she was left supporting two sons.

Jacomina Appel (29), a South African lapdancer was remanded on custody for sentence on February 14. She had attempted to smuggle UKP27,000 worth of cannabis at the time of the U2 concert. She told the gardai that she had been asked by two Nigerians to carry the package and assured that it did not contain drugs.

"Prison for 'Vulnerable' Women Drug Runners" Irish Independent 25 Jan. 2002. <http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/
v02/n124/a09.html?362>

January 25, 2002 

Three SA women guilty of drug smuggling
Irish Times
Article available by subscription only.  See above for information about the case.

January 25, 2002 
Hackney drivers quizzed over trafficking in illegals 
According to this article:
Two Belfast hackney drivers were in garda custody, suspected of trafficking in illegal immigrants.  The case will be investigated by the National Immigration bureau. Their vehicles were seized under the anti-trafficking law. The drivers were stopped in north Dublin with eight non-nationals, believed to be Romanian or possibly Hungarian. The eight possessed false documentation and had insufficient funds to remain in Ireland. They had flown into Belfast from Luton and were transported to Dublin by the hackney drivers. The non-nationals were held in Mountjoy jail and were to be deported.

The Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000 provides for an unlimited fine and a maximum sentence of 10 years for anyone guilty of organizing or assisting a known illegal immigrant to enter Ireland

Special patrols have been operating along the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and another two Belfast based taxi drivers are suspected of cross border trafficking.

Six Nigerians were detained at Dublin Airport in 2001 and were found to have 64 blank birth certificates in their possession. Gardai believe the certificates were to have been used as part of a social welfare scam. In the last two years, more than 850 children under the age of 14 arrived unaccompanied into Ireland.

Brady, Tom. "Hackney Drivers Quizzed over Trafficking in Illegals"  25 Jan 2002. Irish Independent