Garda concern over rising use of heroin in Tralee

Senior gardaí are concerned about an upsurge in the use of heroin in Kerry’s county town.

Supt James O’Connor said after a significant decrease in the availability of the drug in Tralee in the last few years, there are indications it was being circulated in increasing quantities again.

“Supplies may be limited but we are concerned it is becoming available again,” he said.

There are suspicions that the heroin is being brought back into Co Kerry by a Lithuanian crime gang.

The county’s Garda divisional drugs unit is monitoring the situation closely and a number of arrests have been made.

Supt O’Connor told a meeting of the Tralee Joint Policing Committee that cannabis remained the most commonly used drug and it was “far more potent” than the type of cannabis used in the past.

The fear was with many people smoking cannabis, they would later move on to harder drugs, he stated.

Supt O’Connor said the deaths of five people, all in their 20s in the Tralee area, in the last 12 months, had been linked to drug abuse. However, he said there had been increased detections and several accused received jail sentences for drugs offences in Tralee Circuit Court.

A 68-year-old man, caught with €280,000 worth of cocaine at Kerry Airport in Jan 2013, received a seven-year sentence. Last week, a 29-year-old woman was given a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to storing €172,000 worth of drugs, including ecstasy pills and amphetamines, for a man stated to have a propensity for using women in such circumstances.