Tacking crime empires: A united front

GARDAÍ have, in recent months, endured more criticism — most of it entirely justified — than is healthy in a democracy so it is important to recognise and celebrate the kind of achievement that cannot be realised without commitment and no little courage.

The most recent of those operations took place this Wednesday in Meath when two men were arrested and a large consignment of cocaine and cannabis, which had just ben smuggled into the State as freight, was seized. That was followed yesterday by a briefing from Irish and European police around how the international Kinahan crime cartel continues to be the focus of co-ordinated police attention.

One of the sad admissions of our world must be that the war on drugs can never be won. Despite that, it is essential that it continues with energy and the resources needed to at least disrupt evil empires like the Kinahans.

Any doubts about that the validity of that endless argument can be easily set aside after the briefest consideration of the alternatives.