Man held after €300,000 drugs haul

COCAINE and heroin seized by gardaí in a raid on a house in Dublin was imported by a gang of young dealers who have been linked to a number of murders in recent years.

The drugs, which have a potential street value of 300,000, were discovered during a raid on a house on the North Circular Road yesterday. One man was arrested and was being questioned last night in Store Street station under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act. Some of the drugs, imported from the continent, were ready for distribution to street dealers. A handgun, ammunition and a number of balaclavas were seized along with the drugs.

Garda sources have described the gang involved in the importation of the drugs as a "particularly vicious group of individuals".

Said one Garda source: "They are in their twenties some of them were born in the eighties and they have no fear."

The gang, led by an individual described as "baby-faced" by sources, is heavily involved in the distribution of heroin and cocaine for addicts in the inner city but is also the source of coke supplied to professionals working in all areas, including the financial district. Gardaí attached to the drugs unit in Dublin's North-Central Division have had successes in their battle against this particular gang. In August, drugs belonging to them were seized and one man was arrested.