Former professional footballer caught moving over €2.7m of heroin jailed for four years

Alan Quinn (41), the accused’s older brother and a former footballer for the Irish national team, gave evidence before the court that his brother had a good upbringing and none of the family have any convictions.

Mr Quinn said he did not condone what his brother did, but he does not think his brother “is a bad lad”. He said his brother is not a drug dealer and he deserves a second chance.

Passing sentence on Wednesday, Judge Pauline Codd sentenced Quinn to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment.

Judge Codd suspended the final three-and-a-half years of the sentence on strict conditions including that he undergo residential treatment for gambling addiction, if deemed appropriate by the Probation Service.

Detective Garda Liam Aherne told John Berry BL, prosecuting, that in August 2020, police authorities in the UK became suspicious of a package travelling through the UK which had been sent from the Netherlands and had a final destination in Ireland.

Det Gda Aherne said UK police opened the package and determined that it contained heroin before contacting gardaí. An operation was put in place to continue the delivery and on the date in question a detective dressed in a UPS uniform delivered the package to the accused’s work address in the Dublin industrial estate.

The package, which had the name “Keith” on the address label, was given to Quinn who sent a photo of it to his co-accused. He received a text back saying “Do nothing until I get there”.

Quinn put the package in his car and drove alongside the co-accused in a separate car to another part of the industrial estate. Quinn entered a premises on his own and then came out without the package.

He and his co-accused were arrested shortly thereafter and the package was recovered. The total value of the heroin was €2,769,130.

In interview with gardaí, Quinn claimed that he knew “nothing suspicious” about the package and that he thought it might contain medicine for his daughter. He told gardaí that he had a gambling problem and had split up with the mother of his child because of this.

Quinn told gardaí that sending the photo of the package to his co-accused was something he would do on a routine basis. Mr Berry told the court that it was the prosecution’s case that there was “a pattern of communication” between the two.

Det Gda Aherne agreed with Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, that his client had 14 siblings and that he is the youngest member of the family. His siblings include former Ireland international footballers Alan Quinn and Stephen Quinn (35).

The detective agreed with counsel that his client was signed to the Sheffield United academy and was given a professional contract at the age of 18, but he returned to Ireland following the death of his mother.

Det Gda Aherne agreed that Quinn is “deeply ashamed” of his actions and that his involvement was out of “stupidity” rather than “inherent badness”.

The detective agreed with counsel that his client displayed a “very marked reluctance” to discuss the people who got him involved in the offence and that he was in fear. He agreed that Quinn appears to have a significant problem with gambling.

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