Sophisticated cocaine lab uncovered

GARDAÍ have arrested an African man in his 30s after uncovering a sophisticated cocaine laboratory in a house in Kilkenny yesterday.

Drugs unit officers and gardaí say a liquid form of the drug was found hidden in the lining of clothes and transformed into powder with the aid of chemicals. The laboratory was in a house on the outskirts of the city.

The arrest was made following round-the-clock surveillance on the three-storey house and officers say it will take several days to put a value on the seizure. The quantity and purity will have to be assessed first.