Officers from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, supported by the Special Crime Task Force, swooped on two vehicles on the Naas Road in south Dublin on Tuesday.

A major drug trafficking outfit recently hit by the Criminal Assets Bureau is suspected of being behind the importation of a massive haul of cocaine intercepted by Garda gang units.

A busted “backyard” drug factory linked to the Kinahan crime cartel was capable of producing up to 7,000 ecstasy pills every hour, gardaí believe.

Garda gang units have saved the lives of Hutch family members and potentially of innocent bystanders after seizing an arsenal of high-powered weaponry from the Kinahan crime cartel.

A man has appeared in court charged in connection with a major Garda operation targetting criminal gangs.