Ice-cream seller from Limerick jailed for possession of cannabis worth €50k

AN ICE-CREAM seller from Limerick has been jailed for ten years after he pleaded guilty to serious drugs offences.

Imposing sentence at Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford said it would not be unjust to impose the mandatory minimum sentence on Paul Collopy.

Previously, the court heard the 47-year-old, whose most recent address is at at Childers Road, Cloughleigh, Ennis was caught ‘red-handed’ with €50,780 worth of cannabis on the grounds of Carnelly House, near the village of Clarecastle on April 16, 2021.

Imposing the mandatory minimum 10-year prison term, Judge Comerford said Mr Collopy was involved in drug dealing “at a significant level of expertise”.

He stated that “a very grave aggravating factor” was that Mr Collopy was serving three separate suspended sentences when the offence was detected.

The judge stated that Mr Collopy had made himself a target of the local drugs unit by returning to drug dealing within one year of being released from prison for a separate drug dealing offence.

Previously at Ennis Circuit Court in 2016, Mr Collopy received a six-year prison term with the final two years suspended after he  pleaded guilty to the possession of €26,796 worth of heroin in a coffee jar with intent to supply. That offence occurred on November 22, 2015 at Ballycoree, Ennis.

Limerick man who was selling cocaine from ice-cream van jailed

Two year sentence to be served consecutively to sentence imposed last year

At that court, Mr Collopy also admitted having possession of a ‘tick-list’ of drug users who owed him money, totalling €37,920.

From ‘a good family’ in Limerick, Mr Collopy used to have two ice-cream vans on the road before he returned to the drugs scene in the middle of the last decade.

In court concerning the latest drugs offence, Detective Garda Paul Heaslip of the Clare Divisional Drugs Unit described Mr Collopy as “one of the leading players” involved in the large sale and supply of drugs in the area.

Det Heaslip said Mr Collopy, who also has an address at Glenbrook, Ballysimon, Limerick, was “a target” of the Clare Divisional Drugs Unit and was involved in “a sophisticated and well resourced operation”.

He added that he “actively recruits for the purpose of committing drug trafficking crimes”.

Counsel for Mr Collopy objected to the evidence that Mr Collopy "actively recruits" as it didn't appear in the Book of Evidence and that the 'opinion' evidence could not be challenged.

Outlining the facts of the case, Detective Garda Heaslip said gardai found a large freezer bag of cannabis under the root of a tree on the grounds of Carnelly House and that gardai then waited to see if anyone would come for the drugs.

He said members of the Armed Support Unit took up observation points and along with colleagues from the drugs unit witnessed Mr Collopy come to the root of the tree to retrieve the drugs at around 4pm on April 16, 2021.

Detective Heaslip said a nutri-bullet blender, zip lock bags, large refuse bags, mobile phones and cling film were all found during a subsequent search of Mr Collopy’s car.

“All of those items taken together are part and parcel of a drug operation,” he said.

Mr Collopy entered “a very, very late guilty plea” to the charge before his trial was due to commence at Ennis Circuit Court earlier this month.

Detective Garda Heaslip said Mr Collopy has 78 previous convictions including 43 road traffic offences.