Cocaine hidden under baby in pram

A HUGE consignment of cocaine has been found in Limerick - stashed under a toddler being wheeled in a buggy.

The bizarre discovery was made by gardaí who stopped two women this week in the city centre pushing a two-year-old child.

The cocaine, according to gardaí, had a reported street value of €300,000.

Two women, aged 26 and 23, were detained.

However, the pair, both from the southside of Limerick, were released after being questioned by detectives at Roxboro Road station.

Gardaí said a file was being prepared for the DPP.

The woman had taken a train from Dublin to Colbert Station on Wednesday night. Accompanied by the two-year-old child, they were making their way along Parnell Street when they were stopped by detectives.

The arrest reportedly followed a surveillance operation by the crime office at Roxboro Road, headed by Detective Sergeant Tom O’Connor.

Gardaí suspect the haul was acquired in Dublin and was being delivered to a major drugs gang based in Southill.

Supt Frank O’Brien yesterday described the find as significant. “There has been a huge increase in the amount of drugs being brought into Limerick,” he said. “So far this year we seized drugs with a street value of about €5 million compared to last year’s seizures which topped €1m.”

Supt O’Brien said there was a huge increase in the amount of cocaine and heroin being brought into the city.

Gardaí, it emerged, are particularly concerned at the escalation in the use of heroin.

A spokesman said: “People addicted to heroin will do anything to get money to feed their habit and this leads them to crime.”

The head of Limerick’s biggest drugs gang is currently in custody in London having been arrested carrying a gun.

A close associate - a former Limerick publican - is in custody in Belgium having been arrested during a drugs’ bust.