Massive drug profits fuelling violence in communities
The massive money being made from the drugs trade is the “main driver” of the violence and intimidation plaguing affected communities, it has been warned.
The CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign was commenting on the seizure on Thursday of €4m in cash belonging to the country’s biggest heroin trafficking gang.
The haul, thought to be the largest ever cash seizure in the country, was made after the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) swooped on a “safe house” in north Kerry.
The cash was found in bags that were left lying around the house.
Gardaí believe they were profits earned by a notorious family-based trafficking gang, operating from its base in Ballyfermot, west Dublin.
“The massive amount of money to be made in the illegal drugs trade, as with the €4m seized here, is the main driver of the violence and intimidation that goes with the trade,” said Anna Quigley, coordinator of CityWide.
She said that community projects were seeing a rise in violence linked to the drug trade, particularly in relation to demanding drug debts that were owed.
“There has been a big increase in drug debt intimidation being reported as a result of Covid-19,” she said.
“There are reports of drug debts being called in and people are being threatened over very small amounts of money, with all of the serious implications that brings in relation to intimidation and violence.”
She said community projects had seen an increase in “chaotic and more high-risk drug use" during Covid: “Disruption to the usual supply channels, through more visible policing and significant seizures, leads to stockpiling, switching to different drugs based on what is available, and taking whatever they can get.
“Examples were given of opiate users using crack because of a shortage of opiates and young people using psychoactive drugs like Xanax sticks because they can’t access weed.”
She said there has also been a lot of focus on the “significant increase” in the use of nitrous oxide.
She reiterated calls for cash seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau to be ploughed back into communities affected by the drugs trade, pointed out that over €170m had been seized by the agency since it was founded in 1996.
“Next year, 2021, it will be 25 years since CAB was set up — let’s mark this milestone by finally legislating for this to happen,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin Deputy for Limerick Maurice Quinlivan asked the Justice Minister Helen McEntee about what was being done to address the “prevalence of drugs, specifically heroin and crack cocaine in the Limerick city and the open dealing of such narcotics”.
Ms McEntee said the number of gardaí assigned to the three Limerick city stations — Henry Street, Roxboro Road, and Mayorstone Park — had increased by 7% since 2015 (from 422 to 453).
