Gardaí raid cocaine-mixing factory
Senior gardaí described the raid last night on a city centre apartment as a significant blow to one of the city's biggest drug gangs.
They said they are confident more raids will follow in the coming days.
Two men one in his 20s from the Rochestown area and one in his 30s arrested as part of the operation were still being questioned under the Drugs Trafficking Act at two separate garda stations last night.
The cocaine haul, meanwhile, was sent to Dublin for forensic analysis.
The raid by detectives and drugs squad officers from the Cork city division on Thursday night followed an earlier arrest on the city's south side.
Gardaí stopped a man in Greenmount. A search of his car yielded an estimated €70,000 worth of cocaine.
He was arrested and was still being questioned at Togher garda station last night. He can be held for up to seven days.
During a follow-up search of an apartment at Coppinger Court, off Pope's Quay, gardaí found seven kilos of cocaine, equipment for pressing the drugs, 20 kilos of a mixing agent and a loaded handgun.
A man was arrested trying to leave the scene. He was still being questioned at the Bridewell garda station last night.
Gardaí said they believed Cork drug dealers in exile on mainland Europe were responsible for shipping the drugs to Ireland.
Chief Supt Kevin Ludlow announced a major new policing strategy for the city last Monday.
He said gardaí planned to use intelligence to target the city's major drug dealers who have links with dealers abroad, and serious crime figures operating in the city, over the next year.
In the four days since the launch of the strategy, close to €2m worth of drugs was seized in the city.
Almost €1m worth of cannabis resin was seized from a car stopped on Glanmire bypass on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday evening.
Niall Guilfoyle, aged 26, of Tullyglass Crescent, Shannon, appeared in court on Thursday on charges of being in possession of cannabis resin and having the illegal drugs for the purpose of selling or otherwise supplying to others.
He was released on bail.
