Man questioned by gardaí after €1.2m drugs seizure at Cork Airport

Revenue officers seized approximately 12kg of cocaine from the 39-year-old's suitcase on Monday after he disembarked a plane travelling from Faro in Portugal. Stock picture

A Dublin man found with over €1.2m worth of cocaine in his luggage at Cork Airport was being questioned in a Cork Garda station on Tuesday.

Revenue officers seized approximately 12kg of cocaine from the 39-year-old's suitcase on Monday after he disembarked a plane travelling from Faro in Portugal.

Ten packages containing approximately 12kg of cocaine were packed in the suitcase, a silver coloured, hard-cased wheelie bag.

The packages were wrapped in red plastic topped by a white plastic panel containing a black graphic image of a horse's head.

Revenue said the man was stopped on Monday as a result of routine profiling in Cork Airport.

He was being questioned at Togher Garda Station on Tuesday.

He has been detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996, and can be questioned by gardaí for up to seven days.

The suspect is known to gardaí but mostly in connection with road traffic violations. 

He has not been linked to serious criminality in the past.

Although a suitcase should have been scanned before being loaded onto the plane in Portugal, scanning technologies differ, a source said.

While all airport luggage scanners would be designed to pick up materials such as guns or explosives, some scanners may not be designed to alert officers to organic materials, the aviation source said.

Dug traffickers are constantly working to devise new ways to evade customs attention, they said.

This seizure was part of Revenue's ongoing operations targeting organised crime groups and the importation, sale, and supply of illegal drugs. 

If businesses, or members of the public, have any information regarding smuggling, they can contact Revenue via the confidential phone number 1800 295 295.