Man caught with €8.5m worth of cannabis herb at U-Store It gets six years

A MAN has been jailed for six years for his role in a criminal drugs operation in which €8.5 million of cannabis herb was seized by gardaí from a storage unit in Dublin, reports Isabel Hayes.

Dutch national Buta Ram (46) pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis herb with a street value of €8.54 million for sale or supply at U-Store It in the M50 Business Park in Ballymount on October 11, 2024.

He further pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing €5,090 cash, the proceeds of crime, at the same location, which gardaí found in his baggage.

Ram (54), with an address in the Netherlands, flew into the country just a couple of days beforehand on October 9 and was due to fly home when gardaí raided the rental storage unit.

Ram and his co-accused, Onkar Singh, were both found at the scene with 24 pallets, some of which contained boxes of cannabis herb.

Singh (46), also with an address in the Netherlands, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment last March. Both men were found to be just below mid-level operatives in the criminal organisation. Ram was due to receive a “modest” compensation for his role, his sentence hearing was told.

Detective Garda Joanne Browne of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau told the court that gardai received a confidential tip-off about the storage of cannabis and a surveillance operation was put in place

Ram and Singh were observed in a black Volkswagen van on the evening of October 9, 2024. Later that day, they were seen taking receipt of a forklift at the storage unit. Their movements to and from the storage unit were observed the following day.

On October 11, pallets from a truck were unloaded into the storage unit by both men. Singh then went to the Applegreen, where they met two other co-accused, before he returned to the storage unit.

He and Ram were then arrested by gardai.

A search of the van and the storage unit led to the discovery of seven cardboard boxes containing a total of 426kg of cannabis, with a street value of €8.5 million. These boxes had been part of 24 pallets, and the drugs were mixed in with food items, the court heard.

Ram denied any knowledge of drugs or involvement with a criminal enterprise when interviewed. He has been in custody since his arrest.

Imposing sentence on Tuesday, Judge Orla Crowe said this was an “utterly cynical” crime, in which Ram flew into the country in order to move a “considerable” amount of drugs. She noted he was trusted to carry out the role and that he did it for financial gain.

She said the “modest” compensation he was due to receive was in the context of the high value of the drugs in question. The courts regularly see the “utter misery” caused by drugs in this country, she said.

Judge Crowe set a headline sentence of 12 years, which she reduced to eight years taking mitigating factors into account, including Ram’s guilty plea and lack of significant previous convictions.

She suspended the final two years of this sentence on a number of conditions, including that Ram

“depart this jurisdiction within five days of his release and not return”. She backdated it to when he first went into custody.

John Byrne SC, defending, said his client has been a resident of the Netherlands for 23 years and has a wife and children over there. He is originally from India.

He runs a legitimate food business in the Netherlands, defence counsel said. He has no previous convictions except for a historic conviction for driving under the influence in the Netherlands.

Mr Byrne submitted his client finds his time in custody more difficult given his lack of English and family visits.