CAB seizes €220,000 worth of Cork drug dealer’s assets

- with reporting from Eoin English

A convicted drug dealer has been deprived of almost €50,000 in either cash or in bank accounts as well as six-high powered cars worth around €170,000 following a massive operation in Cork.

The Criminal Assets Bureau targeted the man, aged in his early 40s, after receiving a file on him from a local asset profiler based in the Cork West division.

The intelligence-led operation culminated at 4am yesterday when more than 140 gardaí swooped on 21 premises in Cork, mostly in the Bandon area, and on one premises in Roscrea, in Co Tipperary.

Some of the cash seized during the raids in Bandon. Pic: Garda Press Office.

They searched 11 residential premises, four businesses, six professional premises — including solicitors’ and accountants’ offices — and a hotel, where a room was searched. CAB took away:

• Six high-powered cars, worth around €170,000, including a 191 reg Renault Kadjar and a 171 Range Rover;
• €22,500 in cash — as well as freezing more than €25,000 in four bank accounts;
• Two Louis Vuitton bags;
• A Rolex watch.

Gardaí also seized a small quantity of what is suspected to be cocaine, and some cannabis herb, as well as mobile phones and financial documentation.

Two men were arrested, one on foot of a bench warrant and the other for separate drug offences.

The main target, with an address in the Clonakilty area, is suspected by CAB of financing businesses in order to launder the proceeds of crime, particularly in the West Cork area.

One of the watches seized during the raids in Bandon. Pic: Garda Press Office.

CAB believe this has been done through beauty parlours and tanning shops, as well as a pub in the Bandon area. The target is also suspected of providing seed capital for a motor business.

The operation involved gardaí from the Cork West Division, the Emergency Response Unit, the Southern Armed Support Unit, and the Dog Unit.