Man arrested after gardaí seize €840k worth of cocaine near Cork City
Believed Market Is The The Drugs Festive Destined Were For It
A man in his 30s is being questioned on Thursday about a motorway cocaine seizure near Cork — the largest seizure of the drug in the city this year.
The man was arrested on Wednesday night when gardaí intercepted the car he was driving on the northern outskirts of the city, and found some €840,000 worth of suspected cocaine stashed inside.
It is believed the drugs were destined for the festive market.
The seizure was made as part of an intelligence-led national operation, and it is understood gardaí had been tracking the vehicle for some time as it was being driven southbound on the M8.
Officers moved in as it neared Glanmire and ordered it to stop. During a search of the vehicle, they recovered 12kg of suspected cocaine, contained in more than a dozen small plastic-wrapped bundles, with an estimated street value of about €840,000.
The driver was arrested at the scene and is detained at a Garda station in Cork City under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996. He can be held for up to seven days.
The drugs will be sent to Forensic Science Ireland for analysis.
It is the largest single cocaine seizure in the city this year, and the third major cocaine seizure in the city in December alone.
On December 6, gardaí arrested a man in his late teens following the seizure of cannabis valued at €40,000 and cocaine worth an estimated €10,850 at a property in Midleton.
Three days earlier, gardaí attached to the Togher drugs unit seized €105,700 worth of drugs after they executed a search under warrant of a house in Carrigaline, where they recovered about €96,500 worth of suspected cocaine, €5,400 of ketamine, €2,000 of MDMA and €1,800 in cannabis. A man in his 20s was arrested as part of this operation.
There have been several other significant cocaine seizures in the city and county this year, including on November 22 the seizure in Youghal of about €38,000 worth of drugs — some €24,000 worth of cannabis, €8,000 of cocaine and €6,000 of MDMA. A man in his 30s was arrested.
This seizure was part of Operation Tara — an enhanced national anti-drugs strategy launched in July 2021 in a bid to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute drug trafficking networks involved in the importation, distribution, cultivation, production, local sale and supply of controlled drugs.
On September 2, gardaí from the Cork County Divisional Drugs Unit, supported by gardaí from the Cork North East Community Engagement Area and the Serious Crime Unit, stopped and searched a vehicle in the Mitchelstown area, and recovered cocaine with an estimated value of €170,000. A man in his 30s was arrested.
The previous month, gardaí seized €260,000 worth of controlled drugs following a search of a residential premises in the Carrigtwohill area.
Cannabis with an estimated street value of €140,000 and suspected cocaine with a street value of €120,000 was recovered.