€3.4m cannabis haul found hidden in lettuce
A SOUTH Dublin drugs gang, which has been operating independently of the Kinahan cartel, was the main mover behind a €3.4m drugs shipment that was found hidden in a lorry load of lettuce.
New details of the massive Spanish seizure emerged yesterday, which senior sources say is linked to a veteran Sandyford-based gang that has been involved in major importations for well over a decade.
Four Irish men and a Romanian national are in custody in Spain after 170kg of cannabis was seized in a Garda intelligence-led operation near Malaga on May 6.
The Irish Independent can reveal the gang has close links to organised criminals based on the Moreen estate in Sandyford, and the alleged ringleader of the operation was not arrested in the bust – but that his right-hand man was.
A courier for the south Dublin crew, GAA coach David Gill (41), is serving a seven-year sentence for possessing €600,000 and other drugs offences after being busted in separate garda operations in 2013.
Police swooped on the lorry carrying the drugs on the A45 motorway between Malaga and Cordoba after following it from an industrial estate in the town of Alhaurín de la Torre.
The huge haul of cannabis herb was concealed in a lorry load of lettuce.
A spokesman for the Spanish national police, which released footage of the drugs seizure, said: “[Gardaí] alerted Spanish police about a Costa del Sol-based Irish gang which was smuggling drugs into Ireland.”