Part-time DJ caught with almost €1.5m worth of drugs jailed for five years

Eimear Dodd

A part-time DJ who was caught with almost €1.5 million of drugs, including heroin, has been jailed for five years.

Christian Munoz Sanchez (35) told gardaí he would be paid €5,000 for “an easy job”, which included mixing and bagging the drugs, valued at €1.43 million, and transporting them to a third party.

Munoz Sanchez, with an address in Barcelona, Spain, pleaded guilty to possession of drugs for sale or supply on May 2nd, 2025.

On Thursday, he was handed a prison sentence of seven years, with the final two years suspended on strict conditions including that he leave the jurisdiction following his release from custody and be of good behaviour.

Detective Garda Rioghnach O'Sullivan of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau told Aoife McNickle BL, prosecuting, that a surveillance operation was put in place on foot of confidential information.

The court was told the operation was focused on Munoz Sanchez and another man, who were in the vicinity of the Clayton Hotel near Liffey Valley shopping centre.

The second man left and walked towards Lucan. When he was intercepted, a bag he was carrying was searched, but nothing of evidential value was found.

Munoz Sanchez left the hotel in a taxi and gardai stopped the car on the Coolock slip road. The drugs were found when his suitcase, which was in the boot, was searched.

Nearly 9kg of diamorphine, also known as heroin, and over 1kg of monoacetylmorphine, with a combined value of €1.43 million, were found in 19 packages within the suitcase.

After his arrest, the defendant was interviewed five times by gardaí.

Munoz Sanchez acknowledged he knew he was carrying drugs and told gardaí he was being paid €5,000 for an “easy job”.

He said he arrived in Ireland on April 24th, 2025 on a ferry in a vehicle with several others. He visited bars and restaurants, stayed in an AirBnB before moving to the hotel.

He outlined his role and admitting coming here solely for the purpose of mixing and delivering the drugs to a third party.

Munoz Sanchez told gardaí that a business partner had advised him not to come. He has a wine business in Barcelona and is also a part-time DJ.

He provided his phone to gardaí and messages on the Signal encrypted app showed that another person was directing him and thanked him for doing the job. Munoz Sanchez has no previous convictions here or in Spain.

Det Gda O'Sullivan agreed with Garrett McCormack SC, defending, that his client was very co-operative with the investigation.

McCormack said his instructions are that while his client did not have a drugs debts, he had other debts that he was doing this job to repay. The witness said that the defendant confirmed he didn't have a drugs debt and that he was being paid for his role.

Replying to a question from Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin, Det Gda O'Sullivan said that gardaí were unable to confirm how the drugs came into the country. She said the defendant told gardaí that the drugs were handed to him here by a third party.

McCormack submitted to the court that his client incriminated himself, admitting not only to the possession, but also the processing of a large quantity of drugs.

He asked the court to consider departing from the presumptive mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years due to his client's early guilty plea and co-operation with the investigation.

Counsel noted the difficulties for foreign nationals serving a sentence in this jurisdiction, and that family members had travelled to support his client. He said his client is using his time in custody well and intends to return to Spain upon his release.

Several testimonials, a negative urinalysis and other documents were handed to the court.

Imposing sentence on Thursday, Judge Ní Chúlacháin said this was a “very considerable amount of drugs” and that Munoz Sanchez's actions were “calculated and deliberate”.

She said he had acted “for personal gain” and had come to Ireland for this purpose. She said he had “no other purpose to be here, but to earn easy money”.

She said the court accepted he had a debt and wanted to pay it off, noting that “ordinary debt does not carry the same issues as drugs debt”.

“Drugs are a scourge on our society,” the judge said, adding that heroin in particular has “devastated the city” since the 1970s.

She noted that organised crime could not function “in this deadly trade” without people like Munoz Sanchez who are not on the radar of gardaí.

Judge Ní Chúlacháin said Munoz Sanchez's guilty plea, previous good character and co-operation with the investigation allowed her to depart from the presumptive mandatory minimum term.

The judge set a headline sentence of 12 years and having considered the mitigation, reduced this to seven years, with the final two years suspended.

The sentence was backdated to May 2nd, 2025 when he went into custody.