Three of the four men arrested on Wednesday in connection with a seizure of heroin with a street value of about €1.2 million have been charged are appearing in court in Dublin this morning.
The men were detained after a convoy of vehicles was stopped and searched as part of a planned Garda operation at 9pm on Kennelsfort Road, Palmerstown, in west Dublin.
Local gardaí and members of a number of specialist Garda units stopped four vehicles and discovered six kilos of heroin.
Senior Garda sources told the
Irish Timesthat the men were members of an organised gang based around Crumlin and Drimnagh that had been involved in a gun feud with another gang from the areas.
One of the men is regarded by gardaí as the de facto leader of one of the country's most active drugs gangs.
Wednesday's arrests were part of a continuing operation targeting the Crumlin-Drimnagh gangs and involved members of the Organised Crime Unit, Garda National Drugs Unit, National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and local gardaí.