MORE MONEY MORE DRUGS MORE GANGS
Garda & PSNI united to make Ireland cold house for criminals
THE island of Ireland is seen as a an “affluent place” for drug gangs to target, the Garda Commissioner has warned.
Drew Harris said the use of drugs on both sides of the border has become prevalent and has led to a 25% increase in the price of cocaine in the past four months.
Mr Harris was joined by PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, for the annual Cross Border Conference on Organised Crime in Co Cavan.
Justice Minister Helen Mcentee also attended the event.
Mr Boutcher said the island of Ireland has to become a “hostile environment” for criminal gangs to operate in.
Mr Harris said one of the major issues faced by both police forces is how big international crime has become.
He added: “The bigger challenge is the fact that we are seen to these organised crime groups as a wealthy country, an affluent place, and that is shown even in terms of the cocaine use that there is an Ireland.
“Cocaine use is proportionate to the prosperity of a nation and therefore we are a target, so that’s one of the principal challenges.
“The second challenge is that these organised crime groups, they’re not respecting boundaries or treaties or information-sharing agreements.
“They are working all the time to try and confound us in what they do.
“But we have really good people, who are out to stop them and to gain evidence and bring them to justice and actually break down those crime groups.
“I think the biggest issue now for us, in comparison to even 20 years ago, is just how international crime has got [sic]. It’s big business.”
Mr Boutcher said anything that arrives in Dublin, including drugs and people trafficking, will ultimately also arrive in Belfast.
He added: “Organised crime gangs don’t have to respect service level agreements or international protocols. We do.
“There are sovereign countries that we work within, but we need to make sure our job, and all the organisations we work with, that we reduce the bureaucracy, that there’s no impediment to us going after these crime games.
“We need to make the island of Ireland a hostile environment for them to operate in. I genuinely believe
They are working all the time to try and confound us in what we do DREW HARRIS CO CAVAN, YESTERDAY
If you come after police officers then we will come after you JON BOUTCHER ISSUES WARNING TO DISSIDENTS
that is the direction of travel that we’re in.”
Mr Harris said the use of cocaine has become so rife that the street value has jumped 25% in the past few months.
But he pointed to the collaborative work between gardai and the PSNI in recent drug busts.
He said they have also been involved in huge drugs seizures in the Caribbean and West Africa, adding: “The main man drug of choice still remains cannabis followed by cocaine.
“There is obviously then a network of distribution, and we can see in part that is driven by social media use, and things like communication apps, such as Whatsapp.
“Drugs are becoming more prevalent, and stronger as well. So, cannabis in particular, in terms of the THC content, which is the actual live content of the cannabis, is a good deal stronger than it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago, and that THC content is driving, one, addictive behaviour, but, two, then real difficulty around psychotic incidents leading on to mental health problems.”
Meanwhile, Mr Boutcher also said the attempted murder of PSNI Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell shows the threat posed by dissident republicans has not gone away.
He added: “If you come after police officers we will come after you.”
Ms Mcentee praised the work between both forces, but said there are more ways to increase it, adding: “We’re are also looking at human trafficking and smuggling.
“This is a problem that maybe people don’t realise is an issue, but certainly there has been significant efforts over the years to try and identify them, to support them.”