GARDAÍ IN Galway have made their second significant cocaine seizure in a week and have confiscated an estimated €200,000 in cash during the latest operation into organised crime gangs operating from the region.
The latest raid, during which cocaine valued at up to €1 million was seized, follows the seizure in Galway on Tuesday of cocaine valued at up to €2 million and about €100,000 in cash.
Garda sources said they believe the criminals behind the latest find have been supplying cocaine not only to the Galway market, but also into Limerick and other parts of the Republic. “We feel these guys have been operating nationally,” said one source.
“When you find about €200,000 in cash you can be sure this lot are not only operating in Galway or the west.”
The latest batch of money and drugs were seized during a search of a house in a rural location at Annaghdown on the Headford Road in north Galway.
A team comprising members of the local drugs unit, Garda National Drugs Unit and Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) raided the house at 8.30pm on Thursday. They were backed by members of the armed Regional Support Unit.
A search of the house yielded 3.5kg of cocaine and about €200,000 in cash. A new high-powered Honda motorbike was also found at the property.
The drugs have been taken away for analysis, but sources said if the haul proved to be high in purity it would generate about €1 million on the streets.
The cash and motorbike have been confiscated by Cab on the basis both are suspected to be the proceeds of crime.
The house was sealed off on Thursday night and underwent a full forensic examination yesterday by members of the Garda Technical Bureau.
There was nobody at the property when gardaí carried out their surprise raid and no arrests have yet been made. However, sources said the operation was “very much ongoing” and that arrests in different parts of the country were expected.
The find follows a Garda operation on Tuesday in which just over 7kg of cocaine, valued at up to €2 million, was seized as it was being collected at a drop off point in Gort, Co Galway.
A package containing 7kg of high-grade cocaine had entered the State by the freight postal system from the US via Shannon airport.
Gardaí and Customs officers kept the large parcel under surveillance from the time it arrived in Shannon. When it was being delivered to a man at a drop-off point in Gort on Tuesday afternoon, gardaí arrested two people travelling in a car into which the drugs were placed.
The man and woman have appeared before the courts in relation to the drugs find.