Gardaí target 'maximum disruption' as €10.5m of cocaine seized
Some of the drugs worth €10.5m, which were found in an a lead-lined compartment, which found when a truck and trailer were searched at Rosslare Europort on Monday. Picture: An Garda Síochána/PA
Gardaí believe they have taken out a key transportation route for the smuggling of “bulk loads” of cocaine into the country.
One of the tactics being adopted by gardaí is to remove the truck drivers providing transportation services for drug smuggling, as it causes “maximum disruption” — it not only shuts down a supply route, but also deprives multiple organised crime groups of their product.
Following a lengthy intelligence operation, the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) and Revenue Customs Service, swooped on the driver of an articulated truck after he came off a ferry at Rosslare Port on Monday.
They seized 150kg of cocaine, which, according to estimates, brings the total amount of cocaine seized so far this year by Gardaí and Customs to more than 1.2 tonnes.
Gardaí and Customs have placed a final estimated street value of the cocaine seized on Monday at €10.5m.
Security sources said the operation was not aimed at the drug gangs due to receive the cocaine, but rather to take out the route and target the haulier involved in the regular transport of “bulk loads” of cocaine into the country.
Revealing the sophistication of “deep concealments”, customs officers and gardaí found around 50 wrapped three-kilo bags of cocaine inside a lead-lined container that was concealed inside one of the massive fuel tanks.
The lead lining is to bypass any X-ray scanner, and being surrounded in fuel protects against drug detector dogs identifying it.
Sources said these concealments have to be created by deconstructing fuel tanks, placing the lead container inside and welding and bolting the tank back together.
The truck driver is a Bulgarian national who has been under surveillance by authorities for some time.
“By targeting the logistics, the driver of the trucks transporting the drugs across Europe into Ireland, it is maximising the disruption on organised crime groups,” a security source said.
“Drug traffickers can’t work on their own, they need legitimate truck drivers to transport their product.”
Gardaí have taken out a number of logistic operators in the last year or so, including a veteran cross-border truck driver and another major haulier in the South-East.
Sources said the authorities want the message to go out to the haulage industry that anyone providing transport services to drug traffickers could serve lengthy prison sentences if they are caught.
The 150kg cocaine haul comes less than a week after 110kg of cocaine was seized by a divisional crime unit in South Dublin — the Terenure Serious Crime Unit.
These two consignments are the largest hauls of cocaine since the summer.
Last July, 440kg of cocaine was seized in Courtmacsherry, Co Cork, by the Joint Task Force (Garda, Revenue, and Defence Forces). The drugs had been brought from a mothership at sea by RHIB to Broad Strand beach, near Courtmacsherry — but the smuggling was under surveillance.
A statement issued by Revenue said: “As a result of a joint operation conducted by Revenue’s Customs Service and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, approximately 150kg of cocaine was seized in Rosslare Europort, with an estimated value of €10.5m.
“The drugs were discovered during a search of a truck and trailer unit which revealed an elaborate lead-lined concealment within the fuel tank of the vehicle.”
It said a man in his 50s was arrested and is currently detained, under organised crime legislation, in the South-East of the country.
“This operation was part of Revenue’s ongoing joint investigations targeting transnational organised crime and the importation, sale, and supply of illegal drugs," Revenue stated. "If businesses, or members of the public, have any information regarding drug smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on confidential phone number 1800 295 295.”
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