Arrests expected in Dublin drug wholesale outfit

GARDAÍ tracking a wholesale drugs distribution gang in north Dublin are expected to make arrests in the coming weeks.

Officers in Coolock dealt a blow to the network after they seized at least €1.5 million worth of cocaine. The gang is led by a notorious Traveller family that supplies drugs to gangs across north Dublin.

The bosses have gone to ground since gardaí from the Coolock Drugs Unit raided a number of their properties and seized 21kg of cocaine. At a standard street price of €70,000 per kilo, the consignment is estimated to be worth €1.5m. However, a high percentage of the find is thought to contain high-purity cocaine, so the final valuation may be higher.

Drug officers, assisted by the divisional search team, searched two vacant houses and two mobile homes on Grove Lane, in Coolock.

The drugs were found in the houses, while cocaine and heroin worth €2,200 were recovered in one of the mobile homes, along with a magazine and ammunition for a firearm.

Gardaí believe the location was a cocaine factory, where pure cocaine was cut down for street sale, packaged and distributed.

“These are serious players in the market, what you could call wholesale distributors,” said a Garda source.

“[Those involved] are gone to ground, but we are going to make arrests.”

He said the seizure would be a huge financial hit to the gang, who have to try and recoup the money from other drug sales in order to pay the traffickers who supplied the drugs.

The seizure is part of Operation Thaw, set up by Coolock gardaí last November.