THE PILOT OF a light aircraft that transported €8.4 million of cocaine into the Midlands from France in 2022 has been convicted by a jury for his role in the drug importation operation.

Polish national Michal Luczak, 44, described by the prosecution as a vital asset, irreplaceable, and “key to the success” of the smuggling plot, was remanded in custody pending sentence by Judge Roderick Maguire at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court today.

It follows a three-week trial stemming from a Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau-led (GNDOCB) investigation and covert surveillance at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, Co Longford, on 4 August 2022.

Sentencing was adjourned until 10 November.

The Cessna pilot had pleaded not guilty to unlawful possession of 120 kilos of cocaine, possessing it for the purpose of sale or supply, and the possession and importation of drugs worth €13,000 or more at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, Co Longford, on 4 August 2022.

Described as a passionate flyer, the court heard the father-of-two worked in transport and had studied law in Poland.

The defence focused on Luczak, who did not give evidence in the trial, wanting to obtain as much flying practice as possible.

It was claimed that he wanted to become a commercial pilot and that he often brought his friend, Timothy Gilchrist, who was interested in flying and travelled as a passenger.

Gilchrist, jailed last year for 11 years, took responsibility for collecting the drugs.

He testified that he alone loaded the five cocaine-filled sports bags and a suitcase onto the plane in Dieppe, that he later unloaded them at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, and that Luczak knew nothing about the drugs in the baggage on board.

However, today, the four women and eight men of the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all the pilot’s charges, after three hours and 16 minutes of deliberations.

The court can consider a life sentence or a mandatory minimum 10-year prison term.

Earlier, during his closing speech to the jury, counsel for the State, Cathal Ó Braonáin BL, said Luczak would have been a “wildcard” risk to a criminal organisation if he had not known what the four-seater aircraft was carrying.

The trial involved more than 50 witnesses: officers in the GNDOCB, the Garda National surveillance unit named only by their initials, the scenes of crime unit and mapping section, as well as Garda HQ, along with civilians and personnel from Forensic Science Ireland and the Irish Aviation Authority.

Evidence was given that a Cessna 182 aircraft, owned by eight shareholders, including Luczak, left Abbeyshrule Aerodrome bound for Le Touquet Airport in France on 3 August 2022.

Luczak was accompanied by Timothy Gilchrist, and the pair stayed overnight before flying to Dieppe airport, also in France, the next day.

Jurors heard that the aircraft returned with the 120 kilos of cocaine.

A garda surveillance operation had been put in place at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, where the Cessna was unloaded.

All six bags were put in Gilchrist’s Alfa Romeo car and driven away before Gilchrist was stopped by gardaí at Lough Owel outside of Mullingar, Co Westmeath.

Luczak, formerly of Primrose Avenue, Jigginstown, Naas, Co Kildare, and recently residing in Dublin 12, left the aerodrome in a black Mercedes car. He was stopped and arrested by gardaí at Collinstown, Co Westmeath.

Father-of-one Timothy Gilchrist, 57, of Mavis Bank, Newrath, Co Kilkenny, told the jury he had been jailed for 11 years for his role.

Gilchrist testified that he had been threatened and attacked a few years before, and he did not really have a choice.

He said these people knew he was interested in flying, and he feared for his daughter’s life and his own; afterwards, he was told to bring the bags back from France.

“I didn’t want to tell him I was carrying anything suspicious because he would have gone straight to the authorities.”

“He [the defendant] knew nothing about this,” Gilchrist stated.

Gilchrist said he was interested in flying and that he had been introduced to the defendant by a friend two or three years earlier.

They had taken trips together to England, Belgium, and France, with him paying for the fuel for eight to ten trips, he told the jury.

He also claimed he was sick at the time and collected the bags from a group of angry men who had arrived at Dieppe Airport.

He gave evidence that he loaded the plane when the defendant was not around and felt dreadful about it, later telling the accused the bags contained books and research papers belonging to his brother.

He also stated that he alone unloaded the bags at Abbeyshrule and placed them in his car.

Under cross-examination, Gilchrist denied that he was protecting the accused and told the court: “Do you not think I am beating myself up every day over what I’ve done to this man?”.

The jury learned that the pilot did not record the flight from Dieppe in his log and that he was fully aware of the regulations.

The prosecution told the jury to consider why Luczak did not help his ill friend Gilchrist carry the heavy bags.

Counsel asked the jurors not to accept the account of Gilchrist and his evidence that he was approached and threatened when he was not a pilot and did not own a plane.

The prosecutor, instructed by State solicitor for Westmeath, Matt Shaw, also referred to evidence that one of the people on the ground at the aerodrome, who had been in contact with Gilchrist, also had Luczak’s mobile phone number.

Last year, during Gilchrist’s sentencing, Judge Keenan Johnson expressed concerns about “open corridor” airfields across the country and called for “significant upgrading” of security, including 24-hour monitoring and checks.

Gilchrist, who told gardaí he was a company director with business interests in Uganda, had been described as a Walter Mitty character with an “important logistical role” in the operation.