A Cross-Border investigation has begun after gardai arrested a man from Armagh and seized cannabis resin worth about £850,000 near Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, early yesterday. The man was arrested after he drove the wrong way along part of the Balbriggan bypass and through the town at speeds estimated to be close to 100 m.p.h.
Garda sources suspect that the drugs were imported by one of Northern Ireland's major drug dealers who has connections with loyalist para-militaries. He is believed to be operating out of Portadown; the drugs would have been distributed there and in Belfast.
Gardai have established that the cannabis resin was picked up at Dublin Port yesterday morning and that the car was checked by gardai from Store Street some time later, possibly because it has a Northern Ireland registration. However, it was not searched and continued along the main Dublin-Belfast road.
When it met a Garda checkpoint at the start of the Balbriggan bypass, the car took off at high speed and went the wrong way up a slip road leading to the northbound carriageway of the motorway.
The green Daewoo Nexia was driven at high speed through Balbriggan. However, there was little traffic there and the car continued towards Gormanston. It was pursued by gardai and crashed a short distance north of the village. The driver took to nearby fields, still being chased by gardai.
A 36-year-old man from Lough gall, Armagh, was arrested and was last night in custody in Balbriggan Garda station under the Drug Trafficking Act. He was being questioned by members of the Garda National Drugs Unit.
When gardai searched the car they found 85 kg of cannabis resin in the boot. The slabs were heat-sealed and wrapped into bales using brown cellophane. The haul was examined by the Garda forensic team yesterday afternoon.
A Garda source said the seizure would be a significant loss for those involved in the drug trade in Northern Ireland.
Garda Chief Supt Michael Finnegan of the Louth-Meath division said: "This is very significant and hot on the heels of the cannabis resin worth £200,000 that was seized in Slane on Tuesday evening.
"However, we are not linking the two incidents and there is no evidence at the moment to say there is any subversive involvement."