2 weeks Ago By Stephen Breen
A FORMER Soviet fighter pilot was working for ‘The Family’ gang when he flew €8.4million worth of heroin into Ireland, the Irish Sun on Sunday can reveal. But Zoltan Nemeth’s role within the transnational organised crime group is now over after he was jailed for eight years at Dublin Circuit Court last Wednesday.
Nemeth, 63, who served with the Hungarian military between 1979 and 2005, received the sentence after he pleaded guilty to smuggling heroin at Weston Airport in Dublin between November 28 and December 1 last year. Before arriving in Ireland, the dad of six told fellow pilots at a Hungarian pilot school that he was using his plane to transport material that would lead to a “revolutionary breakthrough” in computer technology that would earn him “billions”. A fellow pilot also told Hungarian media this week how “they believed him” and how they “should have checked his luggage” before he flew to Ireland.
But the reality is that Nemeth had been recruited by Ignac Aradi, 50, also from Hungary , to fly the drugs into Ireland for ‘The Family’ . Aradi received a ten-year sentence for his role in organising the drug trafficking operation. One source said: “Nemeth will now spend the next eight years of his life in Mountjoy Prison because of his decision to participate in this criminal enterprise.
“He had no previous convictions and these are the type of people transnational crime gangs exploit and manipulate. “He was an experienced pilot and was used for the purposes of bringing drugs into Ireland. “Along with Aradi they were working for the Family .
" The pair were arrested after the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau — in a joint operation with Customs — received intelligence that a Cessna 210 light aircraft scheduled to land at Weston Airport had drugs. The operation is just the latest in a series of successes that Gardai have had against ‘The Family’ including cash seizures and drug transport routes being dismantled. Once landed, the pair were placed under surveillance by the GNDOCB and spent the next few days in the Dublin area.
During their free time, the drug traffickers were under surveillance by the Gardai. Their plan was to return to the plane on December 1 before flying on to the Kilrush airfield in Co Kildare. But when Nemeth returned to the plane he was arrested by Gardai.
As Gardai conducted a search of the plane, they recovered the huge heroin haul. Aradi — who later told officers that his family was “in danger” — was arrested as he drove a car in Hazelhatch Road in Celbridge. He claimed he was to have €200,000 cleared of a debt he owed to loan sharks .
Photos of the drugs were also found on his phone. Investigators also suspect that the pair had undertaken a few “dry runs” before flying from Holland to France before arriving in Ireland. The investigation was led by Det Supt Joe O’Reilly, who is the Gardai’s Customs Liaison Officer, and his team from the GNDOCB.
The senior officer said: “This investigation is an example of the outreach that An Garda Siochana has with the international law enforcement community and the support that we get in tackling transnational criminal networks. “This operation was a joint operation with our colleagues in Customs and we conduct daily ops with a high level of success. “The objective for us is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the higher networks within transnational organised crime.
“The GNDOCB is focused on making Ireland a difficult environment for transnational groups to operate in.” Det Supt O’Reilly added: “Our extensive reach has been expanded on in recent years with the Garda Liaison Networks. International co-operation is invaluable for the effective mitigation of all crime threats and threats.
” During their appearance in court last week, Judge Elma Duffy described the criminal enterprise as a “sophisticated operation” aimed at bringing drugs into Ireland “effectively by the back door”. She said: “It’s clear there was a big operation behind this and they were part of this big operation. “Mr Nemeth has turned something of a blind eye to what was being transported.
“He was lower down the ladder in this offence but he had brought his piloting skills to bear in this operation.” The drugs mob known as ‘The Family’, who have connections across Europe, are among leading traffickers of cocaine and heroin into Ireland. Headed by two brothers, they have been priority targets for the GNDOCB for a number of years.
Since the Gardai’s success in thwarting the Kinahan cartel in Ireland, the gang has expanded its operations in a bid to fill the void. The Family crime gang has been previously targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau ..
