Gardaí seize 4.5 tonnes of ‘legal highs’

MORE than 4.5 tonnes of drugs worth tens of millions of euro were removed from head shops in a Garda operation following a Government ban on May 11.

The colossal haul, confirmed by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, is twice the amount of cannabis seized in 2009 and three times the freak 1.5 tonne seizure of cocaine off Cork in November 2008.

While gardaí do not have a valuation on the haul, estimates based on the shop price of a gramme of the products suggest a total retail value of tens of millions of euro, possibly more.