In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

Gardaí seize €1m drugs in Maynooth

Gardaí from the national drugs unit last night discovered a cocaine-mixing factory in Maynooth, Co Kildare.

A raid at a house close to the town yielded 10kg of cocaine and 7kg of a mixing agent, which combined would have an estimated street value of €1.4 million.

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A follow-up raid on a house in the Clondalkin area of Dublin led to the arrest of four people.

Garda warning on fake €50 notes

Gardaí in north Mayo are advising publicans and traders that a number of counterfeit €50 notes are in circulation in the area.

A number of dud €50 notes have been passed in local businesses recently, and gardaí are warning business people to use the machines they have to detect counterfeit notes.

The notes are described as being of fairly good quality and could be tendered in a bundle of notes.

The same serial number has been found on all the fake notes traced in the Belmullet area.

A garda said "everyone needs to be on the alert over this busy shopping period in the run-up to Christmas".

Man questioned over car hijack

Gardaí last night arrested a 28-year-old man for questioning about the hijacking of a car and threatening of a 26-year-old woman at knife-point in north Cork over a week ago, writes Barry Roche.

Detectives arrested the man in Fermoy at around 7.30pm under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and brought him to the Garda station in the town for questioning.

The arrest followed an incident at around 7.20am on December 9th when a man sat into a car beside the woman after she had filled her car with petrol at a filling station in Fermoy.

The man pulled a knife and put it against the woman's chest and, in broken English, ordered her to drive towards Cork.

The woman managed to jump from the car and flee from her abductor who moved into the driver's seat and continued driving. Gardaí later found the car abandoned near Mallow golf club.

Limerick accident victim named

Gardaí have named the woman who was killed in a road collision in Newcastle West on Monday evening as Maura O'Dwyer (64) from Ardagh in Co Limerick.

She was killed when her car collided with another vehicle at Churchtown, Newcastle West at about 5.45pm.

She was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick where she later died.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's roads claimed another life yesterday - the sixth in three days.

A 35-year-old woman died in south Armagh when her car was in collision with a lorry on the Concession Road outside Crossmaglen.

The driver of the lorry suffered minor injuries. The death increased the toll on the North's roads to 129 so far this year.