A Limerick man has received a suspended two year sentence amid a Garda crackdown on dodgy boxes. 

An estimated 400,000 Irish households own dodgy boxes, which has led to streaming companies haemorrhaging millions of euro. 

Yesterday, Aidan Galvin of Galvone Road, Kennedy Park, Limerick was brought before the Circuit Court for his role in the distribution of illegal streaming devices. 

“He pleaded guilty to laundering €28,000 through his bank account to criminals involved in what was, the court heard, a €750,000 illegal television streaming enterprise,” journalist David Raleigh explained on Newstalk Breakfast. 

“As well as pleading guilty to the money laundering offense, Mr Galvin also admitted dishonestly making a gain for himself or another and he admitted two breaches of a copyright and related rights act.” 

Judge Colin Daly described the case as “economic crime” and noted that Galvin played only a minor role in the organisation. 

The prosecution said that Gardaí received a “tip off” from police that he was the Irish link for a British criminal gang. 

“The court heard that on the 5th of March in 2020, Sky TV was alerted to a chat group on the social media messaging app Telegram that had contained a list of Sky premium contracts on this encrypted cloud-based Telegram app,” Mr Raleigh recounted. 

“Now, subsequent emails discovered by Gardaí linked Mr Galvin as being this Irish contact for the operation from around 2015 onwards and it was heard that Mr Galvin had posted USB sticks and devices to the UK. 

“Gardaí conducted two test purchase sting operations with Mr Galvin; in the first sting, Gardaí exchanged €200 for an illegal streaming device and in the second sting, they exchanged €170 for a 12 month contract on another device.” 

After this sting, Gardaí obtained a warrant to freeze Galvin's bank account, which they concluded had been used to launder thousands of euros between 2018 and 2020.

“Now the bank account was actually empty when Gardaí analysed it,” Mr Raleigh said. 

“The exact amount for the sale of all these devices could not be ascertained but the devices were described as Globe IPTV devices. 

“Judge Daly said Galvin was an agent for a wider criminal network in which money was wired between bank accounts.” 

Galvin was arrested and charged in January 2023 by Gardaí; throughout their investigation, he was co-operative and admitted his role. 

He had no relevant convictions and was given credit by Judge Daly for his early guilty pleas. 

The Judge noted that Galvin was no longer involved in crime and had taken steps to rehabilitate himself with a new job, while he cared for a family member. 

The sentence of two years was suspended, provided that Galvin does not reoffend within the next three years.

Main image: A man with a TV remote control. Picture by: Alamy.com.