Record heroin haul sparks garda concern

Cormac O’Keeffe

A man from the city was arrested in connection with the seizure of half a kilo of heroin, which has an estimated street value of E110,000.

“It’s the first seizure of that kind. It would be the biggest seizure of heroin for the Limerick market,” said a senior garda based in the city.

“Obviously, there is a market for heroin in Limerick, but all of the seizures up until this have been for much smaller amounts.”

The amount is more than the annual total seized in Limerick in any previous year.

Drug officers in Dublin expressed concern following the seizure that the market in Limerick was big enough for such a haul.

Officers attached to the Limerick Drugs Unit are investigating the matter and are trying to establish which of the city’s gangs was behind the operation.

“We have more organised dealing of it locally than was the case before,” said the garda source.

“Before, the scenario was that addicts themselves were going up to Dublin and buying heroin and dealing it amongst themselves. Now you have the gangs moving in on it.”

Gardaí say this reflects the increased demand for the drug and the fact that money is to be made from the trade.

The Limerick Drugs Unit has had a number of successes against individuals involved in supplying heroin.

But the emergence of the city’s major gangs in supplying heroin is a worrying development for gardaí.

Suspicions are pointing to one gang in particular, but gardaí declined to specify.

Gardaí say the numbers of heroin users is increasing all the time.

“There’s a significant amount of people at the experimental stage, particularly smoking it. The number of injecting addicts remains more constant,” said the source.

“There’s a larger pool of people from Limerick and the surrounding areas of Clare, Tipperary and Cork who would be smoking. There would be well over 100 of them, including those coming to Limerick to source their supplies.”

He said that while the smaller number of hardcore users might spend a couple hundred euros a day on heroin, most spend far less.

He said that while the seizure of the half a kilo was substantial, users in the city would be able to get a resupply fairly quickly.