Gardaí seize cocaine worth €1m
It is the second time in less that a month that gardaí have discovered cocaine concealed within video tapes.
A man, understood to be in his 30s and from Nigeria, was arrested yesterday morning following the surveillance operation which had been underway for a number of days.
Security sources indicated that the drugs were sent by courier to a firm at an industrial estate in Little Island, Co Cork before they were picked up by the man at around 8am.
Gardaí and customs officials immediately swooped and arrested the man, who had been living in the village of Whitegate. He tried to flee the scene but was caught a short distance away.
The man was taken to Cobh Garda Station where he was being detained under Section 2 of the Drugs Trafficking Act (1996).
A short time later detectives and customs officers entered the house in Whitegate where the man had been living and discovered mixing agents, which are used to break down cocaine for sale on the street.
A security source said the cocaine seized in Little Island was almost 100% pure and when broken down would probably have realised a street value of around €1 million.
It is understood that before moving to East Cork the man had been living in Cork City and had recently come under suspicion.
A garda spokesman said that inquiries were still on-going and he couldn’t rule out follow-up raids on other premises.
The source added that it was too early to tell if the drugs had been intended for sale solely on the Cork market. Yesterday’s operation also involved members of the Garda National Drugs Unit and the Divisional Drugs Unit, based in Midleton. They were backed up by uniformed officers from Cobh and Glanmire.
This is the second time in less than a month that gardaí have discovered drugs concealed in video tapes sent to non-nationals.
