Garda concerns despite fall in ‘drug mule’ smuggling

THE number of so-called “drug mules” attempting to smuggle drugs in through the country’s airports fell last year, although some people are still caught carrying as much as 1kg of cocaine in their system.

New figures from the Garda Drug Unit in Ballymun showed that last year, 47 people tried to smuggle drugs in through airports for sale and supply. Of that figure, 36 drug mules were caught at Dublin Airport in operations carried out jointly by gardaí and the Customs Service.

Sergeant Martin Halpin of the Drugs Unit in Ballymun said in 2009 there were 13 “swallowers” apprehended, with the individuals having swallowed pellets of drugs in an attempt to bypass airport security. In the most recent case a foreign national who travelled to Ireland from Brazil, via Lisbon, was caught with 67 pellets of cocaine in his system. He had to be monitored in the Beaumont Hospital over the Christmas period.