Husband and wife held after massive heroin haul

Detectives were tonight questioning a husband and wife after one of the largest single heroin seizures in history.

Around €7m worth of the drug was recovered at Palmerstown, west Dublin, in the culmination of a massive week-long undercover operation.

A 35-year-old man – suspected of being one of the city’s major traffickers - was arrested shortly after fleeing a van last night as gardaí were poised to move in.

About 32 kilos of heroin – separated and packed into one kilo parcels – were found in the van and strewn around the scene.

“A kilo of heroin is a major seizure on its own – so that’s the level he was dealing at,” one senior Garda source said.

Drugs officers believe that the suspect was on his way to distribute the heroin to various other dealers down the chain when he was caught.

A woman, also 35, and understood to be the man’s wife, was arrested during follow-up operations while three cars including a BMW X5 were seized.

The Criminal Assets Bureau, acting on documents found during the raids, froze bank accounts thought to contain more than €60,000.

The arrested man is from Clondalkin, gardaí said.

Detective Superintendent Pat Byrne, of the Garda National Drugs Unit (GNDU), said the operation had dealt a major blow to the supply of drugs in the capital.

“We’ve taken a serious amount of heroin off the streets,” he said.

While it was difficult to indicate immediately exactly where the seizure ranks historically – because of changes in value over the years – detectives are certain it is one of the biggest in the history of the State.

The GNDU led the operation, with the help of local west Dublin drugs units in Ballyfermot and Clondalkin, the Garda Technical Bureau as well as the force’s Air Support and dog unit.

“We are happy to say that as well as being a victory for An Garda Siochana we see this as a win for the community that we have removed this amount of heroin from the streets,” said Det Super Byrne.

The man and woman are being questioned at Clondalkin garda station under the provisions of section two of the Criminal Justice Drug Trafficking Act.