Drug seizures top €1m mark for year

DRUGS with a value of more than €1 million have been seized at the country’s airports and ports so far this year, statistics reveal.

Customs figures show that there have been 435 separate seizures of illegal drugs, with the volume seized weighing almost 178 kilos.

April alone accounts for almost half of the value of drugs seized, with cocaine valued at €450,000 being found in two hauls.

“We’re still getting quite a lot of cocaine. It’s coming in fairly frequently,” said a spokesman for Customs.

Last year saw 27 hauls of cocaine, weighing 38 kilos and valued at more than €3.9 million, being taken.

Details of the hauls for this year include:

279 seizures of herbal cannabis, with an estimated value of €360,370.

134 seizures of cannabis resin, valued at €32,139.

Nine seizures of cocaine, worth €484,000.

Two hauls of khat, worth around €250,000.

The khat, which is made from the leaves of an East African plant, is understood to have been bound for the American market.

Given the massive volume of travellers into the state, Customs officials rely on a variety of strategies to intercept drugs, including intelligence-based operations, route and passenger profiling and sniffer dog checks.

Last weekend, sniffer dog Charlie detected drugs on a passenger travelling through Dublin Airport.

A search of the man revealed he had 300g of cocaine, 50g of heroin and 200 ecstasy tablets, with a combined street value of around €50,000.

A 24-year-old male was arrested and taken to Santry Garda Station where he was taken into garda custody.

The drugs had been concealed in hidden compartments in the man’s shoes.

It was the third seizure of cocaine at Dublin Airport that week.

The day before, three kilos of cocaine, with an estimated value of €300,000, were found on a man who had disembarked from a flight from Amsterdam.

The man, a 40-year-old German national, had concealed the drugs in his clothing.

Five days before that, a 24-year-old Angolan was held with 1.25 kilos of cocaine, estimated to be worth €150,000.

The African had flown from Montego Bay, Jamaica, via Heathrow, before landing in Dublin.

Last year, illegal drugs with a value of around €21m were seized.

This included €9m worth of cannabis resin, €4m worth of cocaine, €3m worth of heroin and €2m worth of khat.