Teenager arrested over €30k of cannabis in post

By Cormac O’Keeffe and Eoin English

A teenager has been arrested in the Shanagarry area of East Cork in relation to the seizure of 1.5kg of herbal cannabis.

The drugs have an estimated street value of around €30,000.

The 19-year-old was detained for questioned following a joint Garda-Revenue operation, involving both local and national units.

The operation was put into place after Revenue officers at the Portlaoise Mail Centre detected the suspected drugs.

It had been concealed in a parcel labelled as “clothing”, which had orginated in the US and was destined for an address in Cork.

Revenue contacted gardaí, and a controlled delivery operation was co-ordinated by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and the Divisional Drugs Unit in Angelsea Street Station.

The young man was arrested in the Shanagarry area on Thursday by gardaí and taken to Cobh Garda Station.

He was detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996, which allows for him to be detained for a maximum possible period of seven days, based on successive applications to the courts.

Revenue said that the operation was part of ongoing joint investigations targeting drug importations.

It said that since the start of 2018, 109 drug detections have been made by Revenue officers in Portlaoise Mail Centre.

Revenue said that if businesses or members of the public have any information regarding suspected drug smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on the confidential phone number 1800 295 295.