Two arrested in Kerry as crystal meth worth €32.8m seized in Port of Cork

Premises in Cork and Kerry were searched and two people were arrested after the discovery of hundreds of kilos of crystal meth.

More than half a tonne of suspected crystal methamphetamine has been seized in the Port of Cork while linked searches were carried at a large retail store in Co Kerry.

The consignment seized on Friday morning was due to be exported and believed bound for Australia, which is one of the biggest consumers per person of crystal meth in the world.

While an examination of the haul was continuing on Friday, gardaí said the quantity seized is 546kg.

The drugs would have a final estimated street value of €32.8m in Ireland, according to gardaí, but could be worth up to 10 times that in Australia.

Two people arrested

Two people, both Irish nationals, have been arrested in Kerry in what gardaí suspect is a major international drug trafficking operation.

Local gardaí in Kerry and Cork, assisted by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, are leading the investigation, assisted by Customs.

The suspected methamphetamine seized in Cork on Friday. It is estimated to be worth €32.8m if sold on the Irish market, but would fetch far more in Australia. Picture: An Garda Síochána/PA

The massive haul was found at Ringaskiddy container terminal in Cork Port and later removed under armed escort.

If the drugs are confirmed as crystal meth it will be by far the biggest ever seizure of the highly addictive drug in Ireland.

Drugs not believed to be for Irish market 

Gardaí believe the drugs were not for the Irish market and were “transiting” through Irish ports for abroad.

Gardaí are investigating where the consignment originated and if it was shipped into Ireland from a traditional crystal meth manufacturing country, such as Mexico or the Netherlands, to be transported to a final destination.

Drug may have been made in Ireland

The other possibility, described by sources as very remote, was that the drugs were manufactured here.

Crystal meth factories have been discovered in the Netherlands and Belgium and “Mexican cooks” – specialists flown in by cartels to produce crystal meth – have been arrested.

A major garda search operation took place at a large retail outlet in Kerry as part of the investigation, resulting in one arrest. 

A second arrest occurred elsewhere in Kerry. Two firearms were also seized.

Garda personnel from the Kerry Divisional Drugs Unit, Cork and a number of garda units were involved in the operation.

The men, both aged in their 40s, are currently detained at garda stations in the Southern Region under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007.

The seizure in Cork Port follows the confiscation of over 2.2 tonnes of cocaine off the Cork coast in a military-garda-customs operation last September.

A joint report by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and Europol, the EU police agency, in December 2022, said Mexican cartels were known to cooperate with EU-based criminal networks to traffic methamphetamine to the EU for further distribution outside the union.

Previous large hauls of methamphetamine trafficked from Mexico to the EU include the interception of 2.5 tonnes of methamphetamine in Spain in 2021, 1.5 tonnes of methamphetamine trafficked through Croatia to Slovakia in 2020. The report said: 

It is likely that most of the methamphetamine trafficked from Mexico to the EU only transits the EU on the way to more profitable markets in Oceania and Asia given the higher wholesale and retail prices of methamphetamine in those regions.

“Once the drugs are received at EU entry points, local criminal networks cooperating with the Mexican cartels are responsible for moving the drug loads to their final destinations.” 

In August 2022, some 1.8 tonnes of crystal meth was found in containers arriving in Sydney port, with a local valuation of A$1.6bn (€970m).

While methamphetamine powder, often ground with other cutting ingredients, is generally snorted, large crystals of highly pure methamphetamine hydrochloride, known as ‘ice’ or ‘crystal meth’, are typically smoked and considered both addictive and damaging.