A Galway man is to be sentenced this week after being caught in possession of €17,000 worth of cannabis at Dublin Airport. James McCarthy (44) of Michael Collins Road, Mervue, Galway was arrested on 28 March 2008 and subsequently pleaded guilty to possession the drugs. However, Mr McCarthy has claimed that he unknowingly smuggled drugs into the country after agreeing to carry home a bag of clothes for a girl he met.

At a sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last week, Garda Trevor Bulger told the court that McCarthy had gone on a short holiday to Amsterdam and was looking for somewhere to stay when he ran into another Irish man.

The man said McCarthy could stay at his apartment and the two went back and started drinking and taking cocaine. He said they spent an entire day and night drinking and taking drugs. McCarthy then got talking to a girl who asked him to take a bag of clothes home to someone in Ireland. He agreed and got his flight the next day with the bag.

He was searched at Dublin Airport by customs officers, who found eight packages of cannabis hidden under the clothes in the bag the woman gave him. He was arrested and interviewed but he denied knowledge of the drugs.

Garda Bulger said McCarthy had several "drink related" previous convictions but no significant ones. He said he was a father of two and had a drink and drug problem. Mr McCarthy's defence council added that he suffered from severe depression, which he was attempting to seek treatment for.

Judge Katherine Delahunt remanded him in custody until sentencing later this week.

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