COKE DEALER TARGETS TEENS AT SCHOOL DEBS

SECURITY staff at a Tralee hotel nabbed a drug dealer as he was trying to peddle cocaine to teenagers attending a debs ball.

Gardaí credited staff at the hotel with helping to bring the callous dealer to justice as he was targeting teens with the highly-addictive drug at the debs, held in a Tralee hotel.

The cocaine dealer – who was not a student and was not in any way associated with the debs ball or the school – was seen by hotel security staff approaching students in a suspicious manner. They moved in and detained the man until gardaí arrived.

Gardaí subsequently uncovered up to €600-worth of cocaine when they searched the dealer.

He was arrested and questioned and later released without charge, with a file being prepared for the DPP.

In a follow-up operation the next morning Gardaí uncovered €2,000-worth of cocaine as well as €1,000 of amphetamines in a house in the Tralee area.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident Gardaí in Listowel busted a significant cocaine supply operation into the town. Detectives on patrol on St Stephen’s Night grew suspicious of the activity of one particular motorist, as they observed revellers walking back and forth from his car which was parked in the town square.

The detectives followed him as he eventually drove off, stopping the car in Ballygrennan on the outskirts of the town at around 1am. They discovered €2,600-worth of cocaine, €700-worth of cannabis and €3,000 in cash as well as other drug ‘paraphernalia’ in the search. A file is also now being prepared for the DPP in relation to the incident.

The man’s car was also seized by gardaí as it appeared not to have been insured or taxed.