Four quizzed after crack haul

JUDGES have been urged to hand down heavy sentences to people convicted of producing and supplying the lethal and highly addictive narcotic crack cocaine.

Tony Gregory, a TD in Dublin’s north inner city, said he hopes the judiciary is made aware of the seriousness of the problem if crack is allowed to take hold in the city.

Three men and a woman remained in custody last night after gardaí from the city’s north central drugs unit discovered 900g of cocaine and 300g of crack cocaine in a raid on premises on the Phibsboro Road.

The four, believed to be Nigerian nationals, are being detained at Store Street station and can be held for up to seven days.

Crack is produced by mixing cocaine with either ammonia or baking soda and water. The mixture is heated to create highly addictive ‘rocks’, which are smoked through a pipe.

Mr Gregory said the find was the latest in a series in the north inner city in recent months. It follows seizures of crack cocaine in Ballybough, the North Circular Road and Moore Street.

The production and sale of crack has so far been confined mainly to a small number of people within the Nigerian community, the TD said. Less than half a dozen people, all Nigerians, have appeared in court charged with possession of crack cocaine in the past two years.

There is fear its use will spread among the thousands of hard drug addicts in Dublin. “This is the most lethal of all drugs,” said Mr Gregory.

The four detained in north Dublin were among nine drug-related arrests in three operations in various parts of the city on Monday.

A 42-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman remain in custody in Tallaght Garda Station following an armed standoff late on Monday evening.

As gardaí from the local drugs unit arrived at a house at Greenfort Crescent, they were confronted by a man armed with a handgun. He had pulled up in a car as the raid was about to begin.

Gardaí shouted to the man that they were armed. He ran but continued to threaten gardaí with the gun.

He was eventually caught, overpowered and disarmed. The gun was loaded.

The man was being questioned last under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. Heroin with a street value of €6,000 was discovered in the house and two women, one aged 40, the other 18, were arrested.

Gardaí in Ballymun were last night continuing to question two women following the seizure at Dublin Airport of cocaine with a street value of over €1m.