Gardaí net €2m in drugs and cash in separate busts across capital
GARDAÍ and Revenue have seized almost €2m worth of drugs and cash in separate operations in the capital.
In one bust detectives swooped on a drugs handover and seized €750,000 worth of cannabis and cash.
Separately, Revenue recovered €1.2m of the drug during routine profiling at Dublin Port.
The operations are the latest major cannabis busts in the country over the past week.
On Thursday gardaí searched four vehicles and four properties across Dublin, Meath and Louth.
It led to 36 kilos of cannabis along with €22,000 in cash being recovered.
Three men, aged in their 30s and 40s, were arrested and are being held on suspicion of drug trafficking.
Those in custody are understood to be Polish nationals and detectives are inquiring if the drugs were being moved by a foreign crime gang based in north Dublin.
They are being held at Ashbourne and Ronanstown garda stations under drug-trafficking legislation.
They can be held for up to seven days before they must either be charged or released pending a file to the DPP.
The operation was carried out by gardaí attached to the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), supported by Revenue Customs and the Garda Dog Unit.
Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll, head of Organised and Serious Crime, said: “The seizure of a significant quantity of illicit drugs and the arrest of three suspects demonstrates the value of ongoing positive working relationships forged by An Garda Síochána with partner agencies, in Ireland, with the Revenue Customs Service.
“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to tackle organised crime that impacts negatively on communities.”
In a separate operation that day Revenue officers seized 55 kilos of herbal cannabis and two kilos of cannabis infused ‘jelly sweets’ at Dublin Port.
The illegal drugs, recovered as part of a routine profiling operation, have a combined estimated value of €1.2m.
A Revenue spokesman said: “With the assistance of detector dog James and Revenue’s mobile X-ray scanner, the drugs were discovered concealed in suitcases that were stored in the driver’s cab of a commercial vehicle, which had disembarked a ferry from Holyhead.
“An Irish man in his 50s was arrested by An Garda Síochána and investigations are ongoing,” the spokesman added.