The £5.3 million haul of the amphetamine speed and cocaine seized by gardai yesterday belonged to an Anglo-Irish drugs gang which has been importing the drugs into Ireland and transhipping them into Britain.
Officers from the Garda National Drugs Bureau (GNDB) arrested two men, with addresses in Mulhuddart, Co Dublin, and central London, after a brief car chase in Co Kildare at lunchtime yesterday. The Garda surveillance plane was involved and the car had been under observation since yesterday morning.
The chase ended on the main road between Celbridge and Naas shortly after midday and an unmarked Garda car was damaged in a collision with the suspect car. No one was injured.
A hold-all in the back of the 1997 red Fiat Punto was found to contain 30 kg of very pure amphetamine and two kg of cocaine. The amphetamine is believed to be up to 40 per cent pure.
First estimates yesterday were that the amphetamine haul could have had a final value of more than £5 million when diluted, usually with a powder.
However, a senior Garda source said last night that a final street value, depending on forensic analysis, could be up to £10 million.
The two kg of cocaine are also believed to be of a very high purity and could be worth more than £300,000, according to senior Garda sources.
The haul, the result of an investigation known as "Operation Reflect", is the third major blow to the gang which has been operating between Britain and the Republic. It is estimated that yesterday's seizure may have cost the gang £1 million to buy and transport.
On Wednesday night, north Wales police arrested two Englishmen who had travelled from Dun Laoghaire on the ferry as they arrived in Holyhead and seized 18 kg of amphetamine.
Last November, as part of the same investigation, the Garda National Drugs Unit seized 100 kg of amphetamine and four kg of cocaine in a raid on a house in Enfield, Co Meath.
The drugs seized yesterday are believed to have been packaged in the same way as the other seizures, with similar high purity levels.
The drugs are thought to have originated in The Netherlands and British police have shared information with the ?????????i Garda on the packaging similarities with drugs seizures in Britain.
The two men, in their late 20s, were taken to Kells Garda station for questioning. The man with the London address is believed to be an Irish national who had been living in Britain for some time. The two men can be held for up to seven days.
Yesterday's operation is the latest in a number of drugs seizures this month.
In an operation targeted at activities in Limerick and Cork earlier this month, called "Operation Blackwater", gardai from the Cork National Drugs Unit and the GNDB seized £4.2 million worth of cannabis resin. A stronger form of cannabis was seized in Cahir, Co Tipperary. About 40,000 ecstasy tablets were seized in Dublin earlier this month, along with a small quantity of heroin and cocaine. The full haul had an estimated street value of £400,000.