Driver tests positive for cannabis and opiates during routine Garda traffic stop

A driver has tested positive for cannabis and opiates during a routine Garda traffic stop after a botched effort to hide cocaine valued at €21,000 being carried in his car.

The incident occurred in Galway on Monday evening when one of the passengers in the car fled from it on foot when he saw the gardaí.

While the man with the cocaine tried to hide the packages of drugs in a gap in a nearby wall he was spotted by gardaí and the drugs were found and seized.

The man driving the car was then tested for intoxicants and was positive for cannabis and opiates. Both the driver and his passenger who tried to evade gardaí with the cocaine packages were arrested.

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Gardaí said the routine traffic stop was performed by members of Galway’s Roads Policing Unit at Bushy Park, Galway City, at about 7pm.

“There were two men in the car and the passenger, a man in his early 20s, got out of the car and fled on foot. He was seen placing a white package into a gap in a wall,” a Garda spokesman said.

“The package was recovered and is believed to contain approximately €21,000 worth of cocaine, pending analysis.”

Both men were arrested and detained at the Garda’s North Western regional headquarters in Murrough, Co Galway, under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act.

The driver of the car, a man in his 30s, remained in custody on Tuesday. The other arrested man, who is in his 20s, was released without charge pending further investigations.

While a number of searches were carried out at addresses linked to the two suspects nothing of evidential value was found.