Man discovered in Kilkenny with €10.6 million secret truck cocaine stash jailed for 13 years

Gardaí discovered 152kg of cocaine concealed in a secret compartment in the man’s articulated lorry after it was stopped and searched in Paulstown, last year.

The discovery came after a Europe-wide surveillance operation targeting vehicles arriving into Irish ports, by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau. Before Kilkenny Circuit Court for sentencing was Michael Murphy (61), who has an address in Co. Waterford.

Mr Murphy had pleaded guilty to a charge of importing controlled drugs for sale or supply, at an earlier court sitting.

It is his second conviction and jail sentence for a similar charge. Mr Murphy was convicted of the importation of narcotics by a court in Bruges in 2022.

It was one of 28 previous convictions.

Mr Murphy had been described in the Kilkenny court as ‘allegedly the top man of the logistical operation’ in a criminal enterprise.

Charges of committing offences in conjunction with a criminal organisation were taken into consideration by the court.

The sophisticated hidden compartment, containing €10.6 million of drugs, was discovered with the use of a special x-ray machine, in Dublin Port, where the truck was taken after its seizure.

In early 2025 the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau was investigating the use of haulage companies by criminal gangs to import drugs through Irish ports.

Gardaí had concerns about a haulage company on the Waterford Kilkenny border, Herriot Haulage.

Mr Murphy was the transport manager of the company. There was no suggestion anyone else there was involved in criminal activity.

On March 18, 2025, Mr Murphy was the driver and sole occupant of a Volvo articulated truck, registered to Herriot Haulage. He was under surveillance by gardaí when he took the Paulstown exit off the M7 and pulled into the Applegreen service station.

Garda teams searched the vehicle and Mr Murphy was arrested. The truck was seized.

The trailer unit contained no goods at all.

A number of items were seized from the cab of the truck, including four mobile phones.

The vehicle was then taken to a special x-ray facility at Dublin Port where the sophisticated concealment compartment was discovered behind a refrigeration unit. It was operated by a hydraulic system.

In this compartment was discovered 152kg packs of compacted white powder. On analysis by Forensic Science Ireland this was shown to be 152kg of cocaine with a street value of €10.67 million.

The concealed compartment was described in court as “extremely sophisticated.” It had been installed for the purpose of drug trafficking, not for the refrigeration of goods.

The court heard detailed evidence of Mr Murphy’s travels from Ireland, across Europe and back to Ireland.

He travelled separately to the truck and trailer.

The trailer travelled by ferry from Rosslare to Cherbourg, France, on February 17, driven by a different person, with no involvement in criminality. Mr Murphy travelled on a separate ferry as a foot passenger.

Tachograph details showed it travelled from France to Spain on February 26, back to France on March 5, then Belgium and the Netherlands on March 6. On March 7 the truck drove back to Belgium.

Another driver, with no involvement in criminality, was flown out to Amsterdam by the company. Mr Murphy met him at the airport and they collected a load of machinery with the truck and trailer. The other driver brought this back to Ireland, by ferry.

Mr Murphy travelled back to Ireland separately again. He told gardaí he didn’t want to bring the truck back to Ireland because he didn’t want to get caught in Europe.

The truck travelled to Dublin Port by ferry. The driver delivered a load of machinery to the north, then met Mr Murphy at an industrial estate in Naas, where he handed over the vehicle.

Mr Murphy was under surveillance by gardaí.

He was seen scanning parked vehicles “carrying out anti-surveillance” measures. He did this more than once.

The vehicle went up and down the M7, going north then coming back southbound straight away, a number of times. Carrying out anti-surveillance, looking to see if vehicles were police, checking he was not being followed.

Eventually Mr Murphy started to make his way south, before pulling in to the Applegreen in Paulstown.

A person in possession of 152kg of cocaine “would be highly trusted in organised crime,” a garda told the court.

Judge Sinead McMullen said Mr Murphy had engaged in this activity for financial gain.

His family have suffered intimidation since his arrest but have stood by him.

Assessing the gravity of the offence, the judge said nobody needs to be told the harm drugs do, that Irish families are in misery because of people caught up in addiction.

It was an aggravating factor that this man was “clearly involved in a very high level of logistics” and “clearly had the ability to negotiate pricing with these nefarious individuals.”

Mitigation included his age, his early guilty plea and a good report from the governor of the prison where he has been since earlier this year.

Judge McMullen said the headline sentence in this case is 18 years in prison, but that was reduced to 13 years after mitigation.

The sentence was back dated to when Mr Murphy went into custody, in March 2025.

A court order was made for the forfeiture and destruction of the trailer with the secret hydraulic system and the drugs seized.