Rachel Allen and her husband Isaac have released a statement, following their son Joshua’s arrest.
The 18-year-old was arrested in Cork last Thursday when members of the Garda Drugs Unit and Revenue Customs raided a house in Shanagarry and recovered €30,000 worth of cannabis.
Joshua was released without charge on Friday, but it’s understood that the teenager had been under Garda surveillance for many months.
After the news hit headlines, celebrity chef Rachel and her husband released a statement to the Irish Mirror, which read, “We are making a statement in response to, and hopefully to alleviate, the frenzy of enquiry and speculation ongoing in relation to our son Joshua.”
They admitted: “He has been arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs (marijuana) with intent to supply them to others.”
“He has admitted his guilt immediately and co-operated fully with the Gardaí. A file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions and when formally charged Joshua will be pleading guilty at the first opportunity.”
They continued: “We are absolutely devastated at this turn of events. Our son is eighteen years old, has never been in trouble with the gardaí, and has made a huge mistake, which will have profound consequences for him. We do not in any way condone his actions, in fact, we utterly condemn them, but it is not for us to condemn him.”
“We must now try to look after our son and our family, the best way we can. We would ask that the legal process would be allowed to proceed to deal with this matter, without interference, and that we would be allowed to deal with this, like any other parents, in a similar position.”
According to Revenue, a package containing 1.5kg of cannabis herb was intercepted as a result of “routine profiling” at Portlaoise Mail Centre last week.
The parcel, sent from the US, was reportedly labelled as “clothing”, and addressed to a house in Shanagarry – which prompted gardai to obtain a search warrant.
Joshua was arrested at the scene, and taken to Cobh Garda Station under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, but was released the following day without charge.
Gardai are now preparing a file for the Director of Prosecutions.
