Man jailed for €40k of out-of-date valium
Saturday November 14 2009
A cache of out-of-date valium tablets bought in Thailand for €370 would have retailed on the streets of Dublin for almost €40,000, a court heard.
The "colossal mark-up" was highlighted in the Circuit Criminal Court when Bernard Hempenstall was jailed yesterday for four years, with the final two years suspended, for possessing the drugs with intent to supply on September 2, 2008.
The tablets totalled 38,837 and were packed in trays in a suitcase which was detected in luggage at Dublin Airport by customs officials.
Hempenstall (26) from Park Terrace, The Coombe, cooperated with customs and gardai after the controlled drugs were detected when he appeared to be acting erratically.
Defence Counsel Michael O'Higgins said that his client had a drug problem with cocaine and valium was used to come down off other drugs.
The tablets were four years out of date and there was an element of opportunism in what the accused had done. He said that when they were bought so cheaply there was a likelihood that they would have been sold on cheaply.
cmallon@herald.ie
- Charlie Mallon
