Gardaí plan swoop on international drug traffickers following haul

GARDAÍ are going after international traffickers who supplied a major Irish-British gang busted by drug officers this week.

The Garda National Drugs Unit has largely dismantled the Irish end of a massive international cannabis and cocaine network following three separate swoops.

Operation Zombie, which has been running for the last six-to-eight weeks, has resulted in the arrests of all the main players involved in the gang here, including the suspected leader.

“It’s a very good operation. There have been five arrests in different parts of the group, six firearms have been seized and 20m worth of drugs seized,” said Chief Supt Ted Murphy of the GNDU.

Gardaí continued to question yesterday three people arrested following a raid on a distribution centre in Rathcoole, Co Dublin.

The three include two men, one from England and one from Ireland, and a woman, also from England. All are in their 30s or 40s.

Gardaí found around 485 kilos of cannabis resin, worth an estimated 6m, in the equestrian centre during searches on Monday and Tuesday.

And yesterday officers found a cache of firearms including three pistols, silencers, magazines and rounds of ammunition in the Slade Valley Equestrian Club. The weapons were concealed in a barrel, hidden in a bank of earth.

The hauls follow the seizure of 1,000 kilos of cannabis resin, worth 12m, and 100,000 worth of cocaine, in Dublin last Friday from another suspected member of gang.

And last month the GNDU seized 220 kilos of cannabis resin, worth 2.75m, in a haul in Garristown, Co Dublin, also part of the same supply.

Gardaí have accumulated a huge amount of evidence from the raids and will now pursue investigations abroad.

“Suppliers overseas would have to be identified and that will necessitate investigations and enquiries overseas,” said Mr Murphy. “International criminal groups will be pursued with international law enforcement agencies.”

The GNDU will now chase the suppliers in the Netherlands and will seek the help of their colleagues there.

They will formally ask for Dutch cooperation through the Mutual Assistance channels established by the EU, which will take a couple of days.

The GNDU has developed a good working relationship with Dutch police, which has resulted in a number of high-profile prosecutions of major Irish and foreign criminals supplying the market here.

The Netherlands and Spain continue to be bases for Irish traffickers who have fled Ireland, but who have continued to supply the country with drugs.

The search in Rathcoole was carried out by the GNDU with the assistance of drug units from Pearse Street, Store Street, Santry, Clontarf and Clondalkin as well as other search units.

Mr Murphy said the discovery of firearms in these shipments was a worrying development. “What’s sinister is the firearms with the drugs and the silencers. It is a trend in the last two years and something of concern.”

He said the success of Operation Zombie was down to good accurate intelligence.

Gardaí believe the cannabis seized was destined mainly for the Dublin market.

But they don’t yet know who all the gang’s sub suppliers are, some of whom could be feeding other counties.

But given the population of Dublin and the demand there, they believe the bulk was for Dublin users.

Gardaí were last night expected to bring charges against one of the men arrested in the Rathcoole raid.

The other two were expected to be released pending further investigations and files to the DPP.

In a separate operation, gardaí continued yesterday to question two Irish men about the seizure of 200 kilos of cannabis on the Navan Road, Dublin, on Tuesday. The haul, the result of a customs-garda surveillance operation, was made a short while after a lorry carrying the drugs arrived in Dublin Port from Spain.

The drugs were hidden in tiles.