Around Ireland

Edited by Patrick Markey

Taxi from hell

A Tyrone mother has lashed out after she almost gave birth during a nightmare ride in the back of a taxi that had been sent to collect her by understaffed ambulance officials.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that Ann Dunlop said she could not believe she survived the 40- minute journey to the hospital without any medical attention.

"It was a pure nightmare," she said. "I got to the hospital with less than five minutes to spare and I was rushed straight in to theater.

"It was so bad that at one stage I thought I was going to give birth in the back of the taxi and I dread to think of what might have happened then."

The mother of three said that she was forced to wait more than two hours for the taxi after it got lost en route to her home.

"The hospital told me they were sending out a car, but I never thought for a minute that it would be a taxi," she explained. "It wasn’t until I got a call from the taxi driver an hour later to say that he was lost that I realized what was happening."

Dunlop gave birth to a girl, Katie Louise.

Friendly felons

When thieves stole tools and equipment from a Longford youth training center, trainees were left with little hope of continuing their education.

But, it seems, some felons are friendly than others, reports the Longford Leader.

Soon after the robbery, center workers were contacted anonymously by the thieves, who apologized for taking the tools. The naughty lads had also slipped £100 into the apology to help pay for the missing tools, which they said had already been sold.

Ecstasy connection

An Dublin disc jockey living in Holland who stashed away 31,000 ecstasy tablets in a child’s stroller in his Amsterdam apartment has been jailed for three years, The Examiner newspaper reported.

At his trial in the city of Zwolle, Liam Gregory Fynes was described as a key figure in a major drugs-smuggling operation in which hundreds of kilos of soft drugs and tens of thousands of ecstasy tablets were shipped from Holland to Britain and Ireland.

The judge rejected defense claims that illegal methods were used by police to trap Fynes and others. Prosecutors had clear proof of a well-organized criminal gang involved in extensive drugs trafficking to countries abroad, using the Netherlands as its base and source of supply.

A Dutch national, Dave M’rtens, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Together with Fynes he was also convicted of being a member of the criminal organization.

An undercover Dutch anti-drugs unit code named The Dream Team filmed M’rtens passing a bag later found to contain 25,000 E tablets to another dealer in Amsterdam.

According to Garda sources at the time, the drugs were destined for the Munster market.

Taped mobile phone calls and surveillance showed that Fynes, who had drugs convictions in Britain, was a prominent member of the gang putting Dutch suppliers in touch with Irish drugs godfathers, setting up smuggling rackets, and packing and storing large consignments of drugs at his home in Holland, the court heard.

Slippery suspect

A Derry teen wanted for questioning about an attempted robbery escaped from a hospital where he was being treated for injuries he sustained during the botched crime.

With the help of three associates, the suspect managed to slip past a police guard standing guard at the door of his hospital room, reports the Derry Journal.

The teen was due to face charges he took part in the attempted armed robbery of a Donegal gas station. After the station owner confronted the gang, the teen was caught and taken to a Letterkenny hospital, where he was treated for cuts and bruises.

But three accomplices turned up posing as members of his family. When an officer on guard a the door tried to stop the escape, the other men tripped him and blocked his way as the teen made his getaway in a waiting car.