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.

The cocaine is thought to have come from Asia or North Africa. Gardaí believe it was transported into the country in the lining of the clothing, which was either worn by someone arriving from abroad or transported as freight maybe through Rosslare or Dublin port.

The clothes were then treated with chemicals in a room in the house. They may have been sprayed, doused or soaked in the liquid, before being transferred to another part of the building, where pure cocaine was removed after the garments dried.

Local detectives joined members of the Phoenix Park-based Garda Technical Bureau in the swoop on the house early yesterday afternoon. The three-storey house at Greensbridge had been under surveillance for a number of weeks.

One man was being detained at Kilkenny garda station last night.

Forensic teams are expected to remain at the house for a number of days. They continued to examine the house late last night along with sophisticated laboratory equipment found in the home.