The search of the bedroom of a man who was living with his parents in Crossmolina uncovered 400 BZP tablets valued at €2,300 while a weighing scale was also found in a vehicle outside the house. As a result, Mark Ryder, 10 Chapel View, Chapel Street, Crossmolina, was sentenced to three months in prison by Judge Mary Devins at Ballina Court and fined €1,000 for possession of drugs with the intention of supplying others. He was also given a three-month jail sentence to run concurrent for

being in possession of drugs.
Officers from the Drugs Unit visited the defendant who was living with his parents in Crossmolina.
The examination of a mattress in his bedroom revealed 400 tablets valued at €2,300 while in car outside the house an electric weighing scale was found.
The car belonged to the defendant's father. His own cars were out of action but he had the use of his father's car.
The defendant first claimed he had bought the tablets in Sligo but they were fake.
However, after forensic tests had bee carried out the tablets proved to be genuine?
"According o the analysis they were far form fake," said Judge Devins.
The defendant had a substance abuse problem, which he had now overcome. He had problems since he was 14 years and had had received counselling for substance abuse.
He had moved form Ballina to Crossmolina but had got in with 'the wrong crowd', the court was told. The defendant was now a student attending a course in Limerick.
Recognisances were fixed at €3,000, a third of which was to be a cash surety.