Gardai used a hidden camera inside a Dublin hotel bar to film three men accused of having heroin worth £1.2 million, a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury has been told.
The jury has viewed video recordings of the movements of the accused and of two other men who were put under surveillance from the time they arrived at Dublin Port in a car.
Some of the footage came from the Garda hidden camera and other footage came from the Arlington Hotel on Bachelors Walk, the Jervis Street Shopping Centre and Heuston Station.
Det Garda John Reed told prosecuting counsel, Mr Brendan Grehan, that he and colleagues used a hidden camera at a table near the three accused in the Arlington Hotel bar.
Garda Reed claimed privilege concerning the hidden camera and how he and his colleagues filmed the men in the bar.
John Lynn jnr (22), John Lynn snr (46), both from Muirside Avenue, Mount Vernon, Glasgow, and Thomas Mulvey (66), Ennismore Road, Liverpool, have all pleaded not guilty to possession of heroin on April 2nd last year with intent to supply it.
Garda Reed, of the National Drugs Unit, said he and others searched the room occupied by Mr Mulvey and a receipt dated March 26th, 2001, for a mobile phone bought in Dublin was recovered.
He also took possession of video recordings from the hotel security camera.
Det Garda Margaret Howard told prosecuting counsel, Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, that she was also present in the Arlington hotel for filming using the hidden camera.
The trial continues.