Two Dublin men caught red-handed trying to dispose of cocaine during a garda raid have had their 3 and a half year jail sentences increased to 5 years.

Andrew Goonery of Collinstown Grove, Clondalkin and Darren Boylan of St. Marks Grove in Clondalkin pleaded guilty to possessing €45,000 worth of drugs for sale and supply at a flat in Palmerstown in November 2009.

During a raid of the apartment, gardai found almost €3,000 stuffed down Goonery’s boxer shorts.

As they forced their way into the building, he was seen throwing items off the balcony which turned out to be a quantity of crack cocaine, two mobiles and digital weighing scales. Darren Boylan was seen in the kitchen trying to flush more crack cocaine down the sink.

Both men were volunteers in the community, Goonery as a soccer coach, Boylan in a programme targeting young people at risk of getting involved in drug use.

Usually cases involving large quantities of illegal drugs result in a mandatory minimum 10 year sentence.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has found the judge who handed down the original sentence put too much weight on mitigating factors and did not give sufficient weight to the inherent gravity of their offending.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) did not object to the sentencing judge's departure from the statutory minimum, but the Director does believe the sentences imposed were too lenient for such a serious offence.

Instead it has imposed 7 year sentences with 2 years suspended.