DUBLIN: A student nurse was allegedly involved in a plot to import £5,000 worth of cannabis into Northern Ireland from Canada, the High Court heard today.
Dominika Orawska, a 21-year-old studying at Trinity College, was arrested with a man after police seized drugs hidden inside a children’s board game last week. Officers recovered the package at a courier service depot in Co Antrim. Orawska, of Alderwood Avenue in Tallaght, faces charges of importing cannabis and attempted possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply. Granting her bail, a judge said he did not want to disrupt her university education. Police seized the parcel from a UPS depot in Mallusk, just outside north Belfast, after being alerted on July 27.
Prosecutors revealed that it contained a children’s board game, with 500g of suspected cannabis concealed inside. The drugs, with an estimated street value of £5,000, are believed to have been sent from Canada. Orawska and 23-year-old co-accused Graham Hayden, also from the Tallaght area of Dublin, were detained after officers were alerted to man and woman arriving at the UPS premises in a car.
A torn delivery docket, €4,700 and two phones were recovered from the vehicle, the court heard. Counsel for Orawska said she is a Polish national who has lived in Ireland since the age of nine. She is due to enter the final year of her nursing degree at Trinity next month, the court heard. Her parents were in court for the hearing and confirmed they were willing to put up a £1,000 cash surety to secure her release. Granting bail on that condition, Mr Justice Colton pointed out: “She is currently engaged in study for a degree at university and I don’t want to interfere with that education pending the ultimate disposal of this case.”
Hayden also mounted a successful application for bail. Both accused must surrender their passports and abide by a ban on contacting each other.
