7% cocaine may have been for Oxegen

GARDAÍ yesterday said the quality of cocaine seized in a haul of the drug on Wednesday was “extremely low” and was only about 7% pure.

Detectives said the 20kg of cocaine found in a property in Celbridge, Co Kildare, may have been destined for this weekend’s Oxegen music festival in Punchestown, Co Kildare.

The Garda National Drugs Unit (GNDU) recovered the drugs during a raid on what turned out to be a cocaine processing factory at Simmonstown Manor, Celbridge, late on Wednesday. The GNDU also searched a house in Clondalkin, west Dublin.

Officers found a range of equipment for cutting and processing cocaine, including mixing agents, scales, blenders, a pressing machine and a vacuum packing machine.

Initial tests have indicated that the cocaine was of very poor quality.

“The cocaine is extremely poor, it’s one of the lowest we’ve seen, only 7% was cocaine,” said a Garda source.

The factory was being run by a well-known drug dealer based in Clondalkin. He has been hit several times this year by the GNDU. Last St Patrick’s Day in Clondalkin, they seized 22kg of cocaine in another processing factory.

The drug boss is not considered to be in the top rank of traffickers. Gardaí said he supplies street dealers rather than other drug gangs.

Gardaí suspect the cocaine may have been destined for Oxegen, where the low quality may have been easier to sell and go unnoticed by users.

Last February, the Irish Examiner reported the purity of street-level cocaine had fallen dramatically.

The National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) said tests in the Forensic Science Laboratory showed that purity was as low as 10% in 2007, falling from 36% purity in 2003. The tests showed 60% of cocaine cases in 2005 and 2006 contained lignocaine, a local-anaesthetic used by dentists.

“People don’t have a clue that when they are taking cocaine they are also taking lignocaine and could be taking well beyond the maximum therapeutic dose in a couple of lines of cocaine,” said NACD director Mairead Lyons at the time. “It can be as serious as cocaine, it acts like a fuel injector to cocaine and has worse side-effects on heart, clotting and major organs.”

Other common mixing agents include phenacetin, a painkiller that was taken off the market in some countries because of links with kidney failure.

A 21-year-old man was arrested at Celbridge and detained at Naas Garda Station under Section 2 of The Drug Trafficking Act.

Gardaí said the seizure was the result of an intelligence-led operation by the GNDU. Local drugs units also assisted.

The haul brings to about 116kg the total amount of cocaine seized so far this year.

Deadly decline

Falling cocaine purity:

2008: Wednesday’s cocaine haul around 7% pure.

2007: 10% purity.

2005: 31% purity.

2003: 36% purity.