€2.1 million in drugs found after man stopped on M7 in Laois

A man who was caught with over €2 million worth of drugs in his car and mother's home has been jailed for four years.

Robert O'Donnell (37) was pulled over by gardaí on the M7 in Laois and found to have two kilos of cocaine in the car he was driving on July 11, 2025.

When his mother's home was searched later that day, more cocaine along with ketamine, cannabis and heroin was seized by gardaí. The drugs had a combined street value of €2.1 million, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

O'Donnell, of Corduff Gardens, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing the drugs under S15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. He has no previous convictions.

Sentencing him today, Judge Orla Crowe said the court was dealing with a “serious amount of drugs”, noting the scourge of drugs on society is well documented.

O'Donnell maintained he was transporting the drugs in order to pay off a drug debt. Judge Crowe accepted he was acting at the behest of others, but noted: “He was sufficiently trusted to hold these drugs.”

Taking into account a number of mitigating factors, including O'Donnell's lack of previous convictions and his early guilty pleas, she said she could depart from the mandatory minimum sentence.

She set a headline sentence of 12 years which she reduced to eight years. She suspended the final four years of this sentence on a number of conditions, including that O'Donnell be of good behaviour for that period.