A computer student was caught with a schoolbag containing notebooks full of bank security numbers and bank cards when Gardai raided a hotel in Co Donegal.
Drissa Dembele, a second-year student at Dublin Institute of Technology appeared before Letterkenny District Court charged with fraud.
The court heard that Dembele was part of a group of men who had booked into Dillon’s Hotel in Main Street in Letterkenny on November 22nd, 2017.
Staff subsequently found out that the bank card used by Dembele was not in his name and contacted Gardai.
When Gardai arrived at the hotel, they found Dembele in a hotel room with a number of other men.
They had in their possession a schoolbag with a copybook containing a copybook full of bank numbers as well as numerous bank cards which were not in their names.
The bank card used by Dembele to book the room which cost €109 was registered to a bank in Germany.
Solicitor for the accused, Mr Patsy Gallagher said his client was a 24-year-old computer student who had been in Letterkenny for a party.
No other charges apart from using a false bank card to book the hotel was brought before the court.
Mr Gallagher added that Dembele had dropped out of college in second year but was keen to finish his degree.
Judge Paul Kelly sentenced Dembele of Castelview Road, Swords in Dublin to two months in prison but suspended the prison sentence for 12 months.