9 held in €6m drugs haul after two raids

Nine suspected members of a major gang of drug traffickers were arrested and drugs with an estimated value of almost €6m seized by gardaí in Dublin and Meath yesterday.

One man is due to appear in court this morning in connection with the find.

The operation, led by the Garda National Drugs Unit, also included the seizure of five handguns and a machine-gun.

The haul included 439kg of cannabis herb and resin, valued at €3.56m and 76,000 ecstasy tablets with an estimated street value of €760,000. One kilo of a powdery substance was also seized.

The men are being held at Ballymun, Blanchardstown, Finglas, Clondalkin, and Store St Garda stations.

Detective Chief Superintendent John McMahon of the GNDU said: “Gardaí have today disrupted and dismantled a major gang which operated drug trafficking into Ireland.

“This operation is part of ongoing Garda activity to tackle organised crime and take drugs and firearms off our streets.

“This seizure shows how organised crime gangs from Ireland and abroad are using the profits from the sale of drugs such as cannabis to fund the importation of further drugs and firearms.

“By using analytical and intelligence methods, this operation was highly targeted. It has been in the planning for some time and involved a large number of personnel and man-hours.

“It also involved close co-operation with the Police Service of Northern Ireland and I would like to thank them for their assistance.”

Yesterday’s haul follows a number of other significant seizures in the last month, including €1m worth of drugs in Drogheda, the uncovering of a drug manufacturing plant in Limerick and the seizure of cannabis herb and plants with a value of up to €100,000 in Co Galway.

Meanwhile, anti-terrorist officers who uncovered a counterfeit cash scam run by dissident republicans said they were “surprised and shocked” at the scale of the operation.

In the second seizure linked to a specific operation, specialist units seized up to €15m in counterfeit cash in a storage unit in north Dublin.

Senior officers said the haul is linked to a discovery last February in which they confiscated more than €2m in forged notes in Meath.

“We are shocked and surprised by the scale of it,” said one Garda source.

Gardaí believe the two hauls were produced by the same German printing press which was seized as part of the Meath phase of the operation.

Gardaí were impressed by the sophistication of the finished product.

“The quality is so good that it would not be noticed when it was being washed through cash businesses,” said one source.