A WATERFORD MAN flew €8.4m of cocaine to Ireland via an “open corridor” aerodrome in the midlands, a court has heard.

Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) officers monitored a Cessna single-engine aircraft which flew from Dieppe in France and landed at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, Co. Longford, on the evening of August 4, 2022.

A short time later, they intercepted father of one Tim Gilchrist at the Lough Owel area in Co. Westmeath, recovering 120 kilogrammes of cocaine from his car.

Tim Gilchrist, 56, of Mavis Bank, Newrath, Waterford, has never applied for bail since his arrest.

In March, he pleaded guilty before Judge Keenan Johnson at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court to possessing drugs worth €13,000 or more for sale or supply at Lough Owel, Irishtown, Co. Westmeath, on the date of his arrest.

Yesterday, he entered an additional plea to unlawfully importing the cocaine in the light aircraft. Judge Johnson heard he used the Cessna for “leisure” flying, and Gilchrist claimed he was under duress from two men who threatened him unless he followed their instructions.

The court heard detailed evidence from GNDOCB Detective Sergeant Ciaran Cummins, who characterised Gilchrist’s version of events as “fanciful”.

Judge Johnson adjourned sentencing until Thursday.

Detective Sergeant Cummins agreed with prosecuting counsel John Hayden BL that the investigation arose from information received by the GNDOCB about a Cessna light aircraft used to bring controlled drugs into the jurisdiction. They set up an operation at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome.

The Cessna, carrying two men, landed at 5.25 pm, and bags were removed from the aircraft.

Gilchrist was driving an Alfa Romeo car and was followed by the gardaí before they stopped him near Lough Owel.

They searched the car and found five black holdall bags and a suitcase in the boot. It contained 120 kilos of cocaine worth €8.4m, the court was told.

The officers arrested Gilchrist and questioned him at Ashbourne Garda station.

He admitted possessing the drugs and “put forward a narrative in relation to how he got involved in the importation” and “put his hands up”.

Subsequent investigations into his assertions would not support his story, Detective Sergeant Cummins told the court.

Quoting his statement, Hayden said Gilchrist told gardaí, “One day, two men arrived at my home late at night, about a month ago, and said you are flying in a plane, we seen you. You are going to do something for us.”

He claimed that he was told, “And if I didn’t do it, I would have another problem.” He maintained that he told them, “I’m going to the guards” but one of them made a threat about his daughter.

He told the investigation team that they had instructed him to buy a mobile phone and that they would be back to get the number.

He claimed he had no choice, and they told him he would fly to Dieppe.

Detective Sergeant Cummins agreed that the investigation did not corroborate the series of events outlined by Gilchrist.

The flight took three and a half hours, and there were no customs officers at the Dieppe aerodrome.

The GNDOCB officer agreed with Judge Johnson that it was the same in Abbeyshrule and a “complete open corridor.”

He said there were spot checks, but generally, flights were logged, and pilots were required to declare their trips. Judge Johnson described that as “extraordinary.”

Gilchrist had been in Dieppe for 24 hours before returning. When caught, he had his personal phone and a second one with just two contacts.

The second phone was bought “solely for use in communication for the importation.”

He admitted it was the primary phone for contacting people not before the court. It was bought in June 2022 and unused until August 3, when he flew to France.

Analysis of the phone showed Gilchrist was sending and receiving messages from people around the aerodrome in Longford shortly before landing. One said, “A lot of guys around be careful.”

Gardaí also recovered receipts for his hotel in France and fuel for the aircraft.

Detective Sergeant Cummins believed Gilchrist’s story was “fanciful” and that he had done “almost identical trips” before.

Gilchrist tried to convince gardaí he enjoyed leisure flying and that “he was placed under duress by others when they became aware of his flying leisure activities”

He also spoke about his interests in the meat industry in Uganda and a restaurant with his partner there. He claimed to be a company director.

The court heard he worked in Ireland for a highway maintenance firm from 2017 to 2020 and is now receiving €208 a week in illness benefit social welfare payments.

Detective Sergeant Cummins agreed with Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, that his client’s guilty plea was valuable.

In a mitigation plea, O’Higgins said his client had one child and lived at a very modest home he inherited, and there was no suggestion he had an excessive lifestyle.

O’Higgins said his client appeared to be “something of a Walter Mitty character”.
Counsel asked the judge to note that a hierarchy was always involved in setting up this kind of case.

The person caught carrying the drugs was the weakest link in the chain and the most expendable. Saving the contacts in his phone under two names also suggested a lack of sophistication, he submitted.

“The persons who own the drugs have several layers of protection. While An Garda Siochana are aware who they are, they are not in position to being them before the court,” O’Higgins said.

“In relation to the use of the aerodrome, it is an open corridor exploited by others significantly higher up the chain,” he said in further pleas for leniency.

He also asked the judge to consider his client’s good record and his lack of prior criminal convictions.

Judge Johnson remanded Gilchrist, who spoke only to confirm his plea, in continuing custody.