Gardaí question three over major drugs bust

Three men were being questioned by the drugs squad tonight after an international smuggling ring was smashed in Dublin.

Gardaí said two men were detained and five kilos of heroin seized after a car was stopped on the M50 toll plaza last night.

The drugs are thought to have a street value of €1m and are being forensically examined.

Officers from the Garda National Drugs Unit had been tailing the car as part of a planned operation which involved intelligence from police in Holland.

Two men aged 27 and 29, who were in the car when it was stopped at 9pm yesterday, were arrested and taken to Blanchardstown Garda Station where they are being questioned under section two of The Drug Trafficking Act.

Gardaí said the arrests sparked a follow-up raid in Kildare and just two hours after the initial arrests and heroin seizure a third man, aged 48, was arrested at a house in Newbridge.

Gardaí said he is also in custody at Blanchardstown Garda Station under section two of The Drug Trafficking Act.

The drugs squad is continuing to work closely with their Dutch counterparts as investigations into the smuggling ring are ongoing.

The seizure is the latest in a number of significant raids this week.

A young west African woman was arrested yesterday after gardai and customs officers seized almost three kilos of cocaine during a raid on a house in Drogheda.

The planned search was ordered after customs in Dublin Airport identified a crate of Pot Noodle snacks among postal packages, which they believed was being used to smuggle drugs.

The foil covering on the tubs had been sliced open with a knife and 2.75kg of drugs with a street value of €200,000 slipped inside before the containers were resealed.

With the aid of drugs squad officers, customs followed the package to its destination in Drogheda and a search of a house was ordered, where the 28-year-old woman was arrested.

The investigation involved profiling of freight and post into Ireland from west Africa as drugs squad officers attempt to stifle smuggling by foreign gangs.

The seizure came two days after a massive haul of cannabis was recovered in Dublin Port.

More than one tonne of herbal cannabis worth €13m was found hidden in granite stands shipped from South Africa.

Two cannabis farms were also discovered in Co Kerry and Co Leitrim earlier this week.