Customs seize first haul of meth destined for export
The consignment was packed into the frame of a wood carving and was bound for Malaysia.
Customs staff at Dublin Airport became suspicious of a wood carving that was due to be exported to Asia.
The thick frame had a hollow back covered with timber slots. When they opened it they found four packages, weighing 660g. After analysis in recent days, it was confirmed as methamphetamine, in powder form.
The drug, which also comes in crystal form, is a very powerful version of amphetamine, better known as speed, traditionally used in Ireland.
While reports from drug projects, particularly in Dublin, have reported the greater visibility of methamphetamine in the past two years, seizures of it are still relatively uncommon.
Last September, the Garda National Drug Unit (GNDU) and Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland warned pharmacists to be on the look out for gangs, mainly Eastern European, who were buying common decongestants like Sudafed and using them to make crystal meth.
The previous month, gardaí found €8,000 worth of the drug in a lab in Tralee, and arrested an Eastern European man.
In Sept 2011, the GNDU and customs seized 2.5kg of crystal meth, worth €250,000, at Dublin Airport, the biggest haul of crystal meth in the country.
In Jul 2008, the GNDU and customs seized almost 5kg of powder methamphetamine in Birr, Co Offaly, from a Lithuanian gang.
A customs spokesman confirmed the haul at Dublin Airport was the first seizure of the drug being exported.
A joint Garda-customs investigation is under way to determine who was behind the shipment and whether it was part of an ongoing trafficking operation. Investigators are also trying to establish if the drug was manufactured here or had been sent in from another country for onward shipment.
In a separate haul, officers uncovered 1kg of cocaine in liquid form inside nine condoms, six concealed in shampoo bottles and three ingested by a 21-year-old courier.
A customs spokesman said liquid cocaine had been seized in Ireland before, but not that often. He said it was common internationally.
The cocaine was contained in nine condoms, six hidden in two shampoo bottles and three condoms swallowed by the courier.
The 21-year-old Portuguese national, who had arrived on a flight from Buenos Aires in Argentina, was unwell and was brought to hospital. He was later charged by the Ballymun Garda Drug Unit.
Couriers receive minimal money, or sometimes nothing, for the ordeal, often to pay off drug debts.
