Gardaí value Dublin heroin haul at €6m

Up to 30kgs of heroin was seized by gardaí in a raid on a Dublin house last night, almost as much as was recovered in the whole of 2005.

The drugs, worth up to €6 million, were recovered by gardaí during a raid on an apartment in Clondalkin.

The seizure was made by members of the Dublin Metropolitan Region South Central Divisional Task Force, assisted by support units as part of the ongoing drugs combating operation, Operation Anvil. A machine gun, a small quantity of ammunition and some cash were also found during the raid.

A drug mixing agent and assorted drug paraphernalia were also found. It is thought that the apartment may have been used as a drugs factory.

No arrests were made following the operation. The apartment has been sealed off pending the arrival of a Garda forensic team.

A Garda spokesman said that the volume of drugs recovered was unusually large for a heroin find and added that an investigation into the seizure was ongoing.

Another large heroin find was made in June of this year when gardaí raided homes in Swords, Co Dublin and Ratoath Co Meath.

Gardaí initially believed they had seized cocaine and valued the haul at €2 million.

However, forensic analysis showed the substance was heroin and had a much greater street value.

In 2005 the entire amount of heroin seized, in over 700 Garda operations, was just over 32kgs.