Businessman Jailed For Twelve Years Over Crystal Meth Haul

Friday, 28 February 2025 14:43

By Martin Osborne

Nathan McDonnell, from Ballyroe in Tralee, allowed a machine containing bags of crystal meth to be stored in a warehouse at his family’s garden centre.

The Special Criminal Court has jailed a Kerry businessman for twelve years for his role in an international multi-million-euro drugs operation involving a Mexican cartel.

Nathan McDonnell, from Ballyroe in Tralee, allowed a machine containing bags of crystal meth to be stored in a warehouse at his family’s garden centre.

Nathan McDonnell has no previous criminal record and before he found himself on the garda radar in relation to this, he was a well-respected businessman.

He employed hundreds of people through the Ballyseedy Garden Centre in Tralee and associated businesses – a local empire built up by three generations of his family.

The 44-year-old father-of-three stored a machine on his business premises for a number of months before he arranged for its onward transport to Australia.

The machine was seized at Cork Pork. Half a tonne of crystal meth, worth €32.4m, was found hidden inside.

He claimed he had no idea what he was getting into, but the judges said he could have joined the dots.

To describe him as a “mere cog is to undervalue his role,” they said.

Taking his otherwise clean record, admissions, and other mitigating factors into account, the judges jailed him today for twelve years.

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