GARDAÍ BELIEVE they have uncovered a key supply route through which a gang of Limerick drug dealers was importing cocaine for sale around Galway city and county.
Two suspects have been arrested, including a Limerick drug dealer, and cocaine valued at up to €2 million has been seized.
In a follow-up operation after the seizure of the drugs gardaí found approximately €100,000 in cash and evidence of earlier successful deliveries of cocaine.
The operation in Gort, Co Galway, yesterday followed a joint investigation by the Garda National Drugs Unit and Revenue’s Customs officers.
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 yesterday, gardaí arrested two people travelling in a car into which the drugs were placed.
One of those arrested is a 39-year-old drug dealer from Limerick who is living in Galway.
Gardaí believe he and a number of his associates have been importing cocaine from the US through the postal system for some time.
A 24-year-old woman was also arrested. She is also from Limerick and is the partner of the arrested man.
The couple were detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 and were taken for questioning to Millstreet Garda station.
They were still being held there last night and the man is expected to appear before the courts as early as today.
The quantity of cocaine, at 7kg, would normally be valued at just over €500,000. However, gardaí and the Customs service believe it is high grade and when mixed with bulking agents would be worth about €2 million on the streets.
Gardaí searched a house in Galway after yesterday’s seizure and found €100,000 in cash hidden behind a bath, believed to be the proceeds of drug dealing.
A search of the property also yielded evidence of earlier deliveries of drugs.