Four men held after seizure of 20,000 ecstasy tablets
The haul, valued at €250,000 on the street, is the second large drug seizure in the county in three days.
However, while gardaí yesterday said the two finds were not linked, it highlights the scale of drugs shipments through the county.
The four men aged 44, 35, 30 and 27 were apprehended following an operation by the Garda National Drugs Unit.
The four, who are not locals, were detained at Portlaoise Garda Station under Section Two of the Drug Trafficking Act, which allows them to be held in custody for a maximum of seven days.
The haul follows the seizure of cannabis resin, worth an estimated 1 million, in Portlaoise last Friday.
The drugs were found in a van and a car stopped by local gardaí, who were carrying out a surveillance operation. A taxi-driver, aged 26, and two men, both 23 and from South Dublin, were arrested. The van, bound for Dublin, was carrying a consignment of furniture.
Yesterday's haul follows a number of other drug seizures in the last few days, all outside the Dublin city area.
Last Friday, customs officers discovered a consignment of ecstasy and amphetamine with a street value of 2 million. The drugs were found in a compartment in a van which had arrived at Rosslare Harbour from Cherbourg.
A 57-year-old British national from Birmingham was arrested in relation to the haul of 96,000 ecstasy tablets and 45kg of amphetamine.
Also on Friday, gardaí in Cork City arrested a 28-year-old man after they seized cannabis with a street value of €400,000 in the Gurranbraher area. On the same day, a man was released without charge in relation to a drugs find in the Moycullen area of Galway.
Gardaí are to send a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions regarding the haul of ecstasy tablets, valued at €100,000, which were found in an apartment in the village.
