Drugs worth over €15,000 seized during Operation Spire

Gardaí have seized thousands of euros worth of drugs as part of an ongoing operation tackling dealing around O’Connell Street in Dublin city. Operation Spire is run from Store Street Garda station and is aimed at reducing the amount of drug activity on the capital’s main thoroughfare.

Latest statistics between the end of January and mid-March show that about €15,800 worth of various drugs have been confiscated. This includes almost €9,000 worth of heroin and over €4,000 worth of benzodiazepine, an anti-anxiety sedative drug. Smaller amounts of cannabis, cocaine and ketamine have also been seized as part of the operation as well as more than 8,000 non-controlled tablets, primarily Zopiclone and Zimovane.

Gardaí said Operation Spire has led to three full court prosecutions with convictions in each case.

Two of these were obstruction charges while one prosecution was brought under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

There have been 227 incidents under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 54 obstruction offences and 111 behaviour warnings.

“Operation Spire combines high visibility uniform patrols with dedicated covert plainclothes personnel working together with the main objective of targeting drug dealing and anti social behaviour on O’Connell Street,” it said.