Young people in Mayo who run up a drugs debt are being coerced into making cross-country supply runs for their dealers.
Detective Sergeant Jim Cadden, Mayo Drugs Unit, told a joint policing committee in Ballina this week that dealers are using these young people to make the risky runs to Dublin or Galway to bring back bags of drugs from suppliers.
“ Dealers are delighted to give young people bags of cannabis ‘on tick’,” he said.
When the young person runs up a sufficiently high debt and it isn’t paid back, the dealers coerce their customers into making the trips.
“I’ve seen the text messages on young people’s phones and they are being threatened with everything,” said Sgt. Cadden. “They are told to ‘pay up or else’.
“If they can’t pay the money back, they’re asked to pay it back another way.
“They’re told to collect a bag and bring it down but they have no idea what is in it.”
Drug dealers typically pay €800 to €1,000 for a bag to be collected in Dublin and brought to Mayo.
Sgt Cadden said young people from all types of backgrounds are being drawn into the world of drugs in Mayo.
“Dealers are not all from bad backgrounds,” he explained. “I am talking about decent families. The shock they get when we arrive to a house with four or five gardaí to search the home. This might be the first indication the parent gets that their son or daughter is involved in drugs.
“Often, parents think we’ve made a mistake until we find the bags and their mobile phones, full of drug messages.”
