Paul Byrne from  Castleblayney has been jailed for 6½ years after been caught transporting cannabis resin valued at more than €2 million .
Mr. Byrne (48) left the country after he  got death threats after getting  a Mass card in his name through the post
after Customs officers uncovered the drugs stashed in boxes of tiles he was carrying in his truck.

The father of six remained abroad until he surrendered to gardaí earlier this year.

At  Dublin Circuit Criminal Court he pleaded guilty  to possession of the drugs for sale or supply on the Swords Road, Santry, on July 11th, 2003.
He had  three previous convictions  for minor offences.

Byrne told gardaí he was to get €1,600 to transport the haul, worth an estimated €2,025,000.

On July 11th 2003 Customs officers were carrying out a routine check in a yard in Santry  when Byrne arrived to collect two pallets from a container that had travelled from Spain via Antwerp.
Each pallet carried 64 cartons of tiles.

The cartons were later inspected and found to contain packages of cannabis resin concealed in holes that had been hollowed out of the tiles.
Det Garda Darley said that although Byrne had been on the premises when the Customs officers arrived, he left soon after and would not answer his phone.
The Gardaí were alerted and a surveillance operation was put in place.

Byrne returned to the yard later that evening having asked for the pallets to be loaded onto his truck.
He was then followed by gardaí as he drove the vehicle away and was stopped a short time later.