GARDAÍ AND Customs officers have made one of the biggest heroin seizures of the year.
Some 30kg of the drug valued at €6 million has been found at Dublin Port in two trucks originating from Holland.
The latest seizure in the capital brings the value of the drug seized by gardaí throughout the country this year to €36 million compared to €24 million last year.
The consignment found in Dublin Port was discovered in two trucks carrying flowers that had disembarked a car ferry from Holyhead after travelling from the Netherlands.
The trucks were searched as part of a planned intelligence-led operation by a number of specialist Garda units and Revenue's Customs and Excise officers. A search of the vehicles began in the port just after 9.30pm on Tuesday.
The search team quickly discovered quantities of heroin hidden among the flowers. The trailers of the vehicles were taken apart by the search team and one of the trucks was still in the process of being examined last night.
The 30kg seized up to late last night will be taken to Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, for analysis. Subject to purity levels, Garda sources said the drugs are worth at least €6 million.
The drivers of the trucks were last night being held by gardaí. Aged 55 and 39, both are from the Netherlands.
They were arrested at Dublin Port under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act and were taken for questioning to Store Street Garda station. The men can be held for up to seven days without charge.
The drugs were seized and the men arrested after gardaí put in place a surveillance operation when they received intelligence a number of months ago that the consignment was to be imported from the Netherlands to the Republic.
Gardaí believe the drugs were being imported by a north Dublin drugs gang for sale on the streets of the capital over the Christmas and new year period. The operation leading to Tuesday night's seizure involved the Garda National Drugs Unit and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the force's serious crimes squad.
The seizure is the second largest consignment of heroin found in the Republic this year. The biggest was discovered in Palmerstown, west Dublin, in January.
On that occasion some 32kg of the drug, valued at about €6.5 million, was found in a van. Major seizures this year have not been confined to Dublin or even other major cities.
Garda sources said there had been finds of heroin in every Garda division. The increased seizures come at a time when the number of heroin addicts in treatment in the Republic has exceeded 10,000 for the first time.
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD welcomed the latest seizure and congratulated the gardaí involved. However, he was concerned at the increase of heroin in circulation.
"[The Garda seizures] have matched increased demand and an upsurge in people seeking help for heroin addiction. This shows that the State could be facing a renewed heroin epidemic and urgent action is required."
He said any heroin seized should be tested for contamination following the recent outbreak of botulism in the drug user community in recent weeks. One addict has died as a result and at least six other cases have been identified.