More than 100 people accused of selling heroin have been arrested in Dublin this week, with around 40 more arrests expected in the latest wave of the undercover Garda Operation Cleanstreets.
One of the youngest people to be charged with dealing heroin is a 13-year-old boy. Around nine out of 10 of those charged were men, with the largest proportion in their 20s. By yesterday morning 108 people had been arrested this week as a result of the eight-week operation in which 12 undercover gardai bought drugs in areas of Dublin.
One hundred and five of the 108 have been charged in connection with heroin, bringing the total number charged under the operation to 204.
A further 12 people have been charged this week with selling drugs in nightclubs in Dublin as the result of a separate operation called Nightcap, which also used undercover gardai. It is believed that gardai will apply to have licences removed from two nightclubs because they found evidence that drugs were sold on the premises after the clubs had received official warnings. Up to 25 people are expected to be charged with drug-dealing offences following the operation. Many of the alleged heroin offences under Operation Cleanstreets were committed in St Michael's Estate and the surrounding Inchicore area. The alleged offences also took place in Ballymun in north Dublin, Ballyfermot, Crumlin, Darndale, Coolock and Santry and in Meath St in the city centre.
"I think Cleanstreets has been a very effective operation," Assistant Commissioner Jim McHugh said yesterday. "It identified a large number of people and they're being processed through the courts. While many are addicts not all of them are."
The Garda National Drugs Unit had prepared a proposal for detoxification treatment for a small proportion of those charged with heroin offences. However Mr McHugh said the treatment programme was awaiting official sanction before it could be set up.
