A search of the house found €19,000 in cash in his bedroom drawer and a further €9,040 in a bedroom belonging to his sister.
Shiels, now aged 33, made full admissions to gardai when confronted and even told Garda Patrick Kelly what the cocaine press was as he was unsure.Barrister for Shiels, Ms Fiona Crawford said it appeared that her client seemed to have told gardai more than they knew.Ms Crawford said Shiels, of Umlagh Cottages in Carrigart, Donegal, had been put under pressure by a third party to build the cocaine press and that he was selling cocaine to “Dublin boys.
The court was told the €9,040 was nothing to do with drugs and was his sister’s cash which gardai accepted. The publicity from the case had caused a great deal of embarrassment in the locality for Shiels, added Ms Crawford.