Man unaware €8.5m worth of cocaine was stored in his home

GARDAÍ have made the biggest seizure of cocaine since the colossal haul of 1.5 tonnes off the coast of Cork in November 2008.

Detectives in Dublin’s south inner city located a cocaine importation centre inside an innocuous suburban house in south Dublin on Sunday night. Gardaí said a 68-year-old man who lived in the house in Terenure had no idea the drugs were being stored there.

They recovered 14kg of high purity cocaine, which they estimate to be worth in the region of €8.5 million on the street. They also seized two semi-automatic handguns. Officers say their high valuation is based on initial tests indicating the purity of the cocaine is nine times that of street cocaine, which can vary from 3% to 12% pure cocaine.