Pilot found guilty of flying cocaine into midlands to be sentenced in December

A Circuit Court judge is unimpressed by the defence team of a pilot who was found guilty of flying €8.4m worth of cocaine into a midlands airport in 2022, as a further day in court is required for a plea in mitigation.

Michal Luczak (45), formerly of Primrose Avenue, Jigginstown, Naas, County Kildare, with a more recent address of The Davitt, Dublin 12, was last year found guilty of smuggling the drugs into the country.

His sentencing for the transportation of 120kg of cocaine from northern France into Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, County Longford, on August 4, 2022, has been adjourned numerous times, and was due to be finalised on November 16, following a hearing before Judge Roderick Maguire this week.

However, noting the defence had only obtained a psychological report within the last week, and required more time, Judge Maguire said he could not be expected to deliver judgement on the same day as hearing a mitigation plea in a case of this nature.

He added that the court should have been notified at the outset that an extra day would be required. Mitigation will be heard next week, and the judgement will be delivered on December 21.

Detective Inspector Ken Donnellan gave a summary of the evidence from the trial in October of last year, which heard how Mr Luczak had departed from Abbeyshrule Aerodrome in a Cessna 182-S aircraft, alongside a co-defendant who is currently serving an 11-and-a-half-year prison sentence for his involvement.

The two men flew to Le Touquet airport in northern France, and stayed overnight in a hotel before flying to Dieppe, where five large sports bags and one large suitcase were loaded on the airplane before the two men returned directly to Abbeyshrule, landing in the early evening of August 4.

On that day, garda surveillance was put in place, and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), supported by other units, monitored the aircraft.

Det Insp Donnellan said there had been phone communication between the co-accused and “spotters” on the ground, and Luczak also received a message when he was close to landing.

WhatsApp messages discussed the possibility of an alternative landing site, and Det Insp Donnellan stated he didn’t know why those discussions would be necessary unless they were aware of the presence of gardaí in the area.

When the two men landed, the six bags were loaded into an Alfa Romeo owned by the co-defendant, who was later intercepted and arrested by gardaí at Lough Owel.

The car was searched and the six bags were each found to contain 20 blocks, individually wrapped in plastic with green tape and a picture of a seahorse on them. Each of the blocks was found to contain approximately one kilogram of cocaine, totalling 120kg, with a market value of €8.4m.

Mr Luczak had left the aerodrome in a black Mercedes, and was stopped at Collinstown, County Westmeath, before being taken to Ashbourne garda Station for interview.

The jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all four charges after three hours and 16 minutes of deliberations.

Christina Burke, BL, stated that her client had more than 20 years of experience in logistics, and had flown to France and England with his co-defendant on six previous occasions, for €250 an hour. There was no evidence of any illegal drugs on those flights, she said but Det Insp Donnellan said that couldn’t be established retrospectively.

He did accept that there is no evidence that Mr Luczak himself had loaded the bags on the plane. Mr Luczak maintained that he was not aware they contained such quantities of cocaine and said he’d been told they held books, papers and accounts.

Mr Luczak has more than 20 previous convictions, the court heard, all for road traffic offences, and he was under a driving ban at the time of the offence before the court.

He was remanded in custody to November 16 for mitigation and a provisional date of December 21 was set for sentence.