Man found with over €1.1m worth of drugs hidden in dog food is jailed for 10 years

A man who was found with over €1.1 million worth of drugs hidden in dog food has been sentenced to 10 years in prison with the final two years suspended.

Adam Rzepka (39) is already serving a seven-year sentence for money laundering, and had been released on bail for that offence the day before he was found with the drugs.

Rzepka, of The Cammock Apartments, Mount Brown, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing cannabis worth over €1.1 million.

He also pleaded guilty to having a car in his possession that was being used in a drug trafficking offence, having a mixing agent for the use in drug trafficking and possessing property that was the proceeds of criminal conduct in the form of €33,090 in cash.

All of the offences occurred on November 29, 2021, at Hickey’s Yard, The Ward, Co Dublin.

Rzepka, orginally from Poland, has two previous convictions from this jurisdiction. One is for the money laundering offence, which involved a sum of money over €400k, and for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

He also has two convictions abroad - one for circulation of drugs and another for robbery. He received a two and a half year and a five year sentence for those offences respectively.

He was seen by gardaí in Hickey’s yard on the date in question before he left and travelled in an Audi A6 to Richmond Street in Dublin 1.

Rzepka met a man there and got into a WV Passat. He then drove this car back to Hickey’s Yard, where he entered a lock-up building via a roller door. Gardaí had obtained a search warrant and entered the unit. They found large bags of opened and unopened dog food. They found Rzepka in the upstairs loft.

Rzepka was the only person in the building, and he was standing beside a box of vacuum-packed cannabis. Additional boxes of cannabis were also present in the loft.

Other drugs in the form of amphetamine with a value of €38,767, ketamine with a value of €9732, along with 68 packs of cannabis with a value of €1,055,960. The total value of drugs seized was €1,104,595,50.

The court heard caffeine powder, which is commonly used as a mixing drug for controlled drugs with a value of €7,097 was found along with other drug paraphernalia in the form of mixing jugs and weighing scales. Cash to the sum of €33,090 was also seized.

The GNDOCB seized the WV Passat, and this was examined by specialist gardaí. A concealed area that used a magnetic release between the boot and back seat was discovered. The car was also registered in a false name.

Rzepka was arrested, detained, and interviewed. During his interview, he admitted to unpacking the drugs from the dog food bags. He declined to say anything more as he said he was in fear for his safety.

The court heard that when asked about the other drugs found and the mixing agents, he denied having any knowledge.

Michael Bowman SC, defending,  submitted that his client had tried to take his own life on number of occasions since his arrest, in the belief that the courts would deal with him more harshly because he is a foreign national.

“Of course, the exact opposite is true,” he said.

Judge Codd imposed a 10-year sentence.

“Taking into account it’s a consecutive sentence, I will suspend the final two years on condition he be of good behaviour and keep peace,”  she added.

Rzepka entered the bond and then hugged and kissed his fiancée before being led away.