Gardaí seize drugs worth €520,000

GARDAÍ WERE last night questioning four men following separate incidents in Dublin and Meath yesterday in which a house was fired at and drugs valued at €520,000 were seized.

The drugs haul, which included heroin, cannabis and cocaine, was seized in three finds at Bellewstown, Co Meath, and in Dublin.

The first find was made in Bellewstown when gardaí from the north central drugs unit stopped a car just after 5pm as part of a planned operation.

When gardaí searched the vehicle they found cocaine with an estimated street value of €240,000.

In a follow-up search at Oxmantown Road, Stoneybatter, Dublin, gardaí found cannabis valued at €80,000.

The 52-year-old man driving the car in Bellewstown was arrested at the scene under section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act. He was taken for questioning to Store Street Garda station where he was still being detained last night.

His arrest is part of an ongoing operation into the activities of a drugs gang based in Dublin’s north inner city.

Meanwhile, heroin with a potential street value of €200,000 was seized following the search of a premises in the Cloverhill area of Dublin at 7.30pm yesterday.

The search was part of an ongoing operation targeting drug dealing in the Ballyfermot area.

A 45 year-old man was arrested and is being detained at Ballyfermot Garda station under section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act.

In an earlier unrelated incident, gardaí arrested two teenagers after shots were fired at a house in Cabra, north Dublin.

The shots hit the front door and front downstairs window of the property. Gardaí were alerted to the gunfire at 12.45am when they received a call from a member of the public.

When gardaí arrived at the scene on Attracta Road a short time later, the gunman had already escaped the scene in a vehicle driven by an accomplice.

Gardaí searched the area and found a silver Nissan crashed on Broombridge Road not far from the scene of the shooting.

Gardaí arrested two 18-year-olds nearby who they believe were in the car that was used in the shooting minutes earlier.

They were arrested under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act. They were taken for questioning to the Bridewell and Mountjoy Garda stations where they were being held last night.

A man and woman in the house hit by the shotgun fire escaped uninjured.