MOTHERS TARGETS OF DRUG DEALERS

GARDAÍ TO MUMS: TELL US IF DEALERS PURSUE YOU FOR DEBTS OF FAMILY MEMBERS

MOTHERS and other female members of local families are being targeted by drug dealers demanding that debts be paid.

Now gardaí are asking that mothers being intimidated into paying off the debts of other family members come forward in confidence to the force.

There have been incidents in Dublin, but it has now spread to Drogheda, the Joint Policing Meeting in the d Hotel heard.

‘ This needs to be brought out into the public domain,’ Cllr Pio Smith revealed.

Chief Supt Christy Mangan said if they got reports from families about such incidents, they would be handled in a sensitive way.

‘We’ll put the drug dealers out of operation but people have to come to us,’ he added.

Supt Andrew Watters remarked: ‘If there are people being intimidated I want to know. We have an inspector who goes out and talks to families and when we get the information, we’ll target groups and take them on.’ He said gardai were trying to stop dealers ‘in their pockets’.

FEMALE members of families, especially mothers, are being targeted by dealers who are demanding money from them for the drug debts of other family members.

‘ This has happened in Dublin and is now spreading to Drogheda,’ Cllr Pio Smith stated. ‘ This needs to be brought out into the public domain.’

Addressing the Joint Policing meeting in reply, Chief Supt Christy Mangan said if they got reports from families about such incidents, they would be ‘ handled in a sensitive way.

‘We’ll put the drug dealers out of operation but people have to come to us . We have taken on the drug dealers in the last 12 months,’ he added.

Supt Andrew Watters added, ‘if there’s people being intimidated I want to know. We have an inspector who goes out and talks to families and when we get the information, we’ll target groups and take them on.’

He said there had been operations in recent months which had targeted crime gangs in the town.

‘We had a number of excellent detections. There are two major groups and we seized property, cash, drugs and vehicles and in a second one, we got cash. We are trying to stop them in their pockets.

‘ These people are getting young people involved in drugs and we want to stop that.’

He said other services like CAB, the revenue, local authority and the emergency services came on board in a bid to ‘ take assets from crime’.

At the JPC meeting were Richie Culhane, Chief Superintendent Christy Mangan, Tony Mullins, Joe McGuinness, Flora Okobi and Superintendent Andrew Watters.