24HR DRUG BUST

Cocaine worth €2.9m and €1m of cannabis is seized in Garda raids

GARDAI led a 24-hour blitz on various drug gangs which included a €2.8million drugs seizure in a shopping centre car park.

A Co Meath crime ring with links to a notorious travelling burglary mob, had arranged with Dutch criminals to import the massive cocaine haul.

As two members of the gang met the foreign vehicle in the car park of Liffey Valley, West Dublin, the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau moved in.

Three men and one woman were arrested in that swoop at 7.10pm on Thursday. There was also a raid in nearby Rathcoole in which a man in his 40s was arrested after officers stopped a car allegedly containing €800,000 worth of cannabis.

In another unconnected operation a male in his 20s was detained by gardai from Finglas, North Dublin, in posession of €200,000 of cannabis resin.

In Limerick, officers raided a house in the Castleconnell area on Thursday. A Garda statement said: “Gardai seized approximately €10,000 in cash and €70,000 worth of cocaine which will now be sent for analysis.”

Patrick Byrnes, 38, from Woodpark, Castleconnell, was arrested in connection with the seizures. He appeared before Judge Marian O’leary at a special court sitting in Limerick last night. Byrnes was granted bail to appear before Limerick District Court in March. Meanwhile, on Tuesday during routine operations involving the deployment of Revenue’s mobile X-ray scanner and with the assistance of detector dog Meg, Revenue officers in Dublin Port seized 68kg of herbal cannabis with an estimated street value of €1.36million. A spokesman said: “The drugs were found concealed in a consignment of goods from Spain.”

total value of drugs seized by gardai and Revenue since Tuesday