Gardaí seize €280,000 worth of cannabis over weekend

Drugs seized during operations and searches in Cork, Dublin and Wicklow

Gardaí have seized about €280,000 worth of cannabis over the weekend from locations in Cork, Dublin and Wicklow.

Gardaí in Cork were questioning a man on Saturday night following the seizure of €160,000 worth of drugs after they stopped and searched a car and later searched a house in north Cork.

Officers from the Cork City Divisional Drugs Squad stopped a car at Dublin Pike on the northern outskirts of Cork city at about 3pm on Friday and found two kilos of cannabis herb worth €40,000.

They arrested a Lithuanian couple, a 30-year-old woman, who was driving the vehicle, and a 35-year-old male passenger, and brought both of them to Gurranebraher Garda Station for questioning.

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Gardaí then carried out a follow up search of a rented house near Whites Cross, north of Cork city, where they found another five and a half kilos of cannabis herb worth a further €120,000.

Gardaí later released the woman without charge but detectives were continuing to question the man on Saturday about the drugs which have been sent to Forensic Science in Dublin for analysis.

The man was detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996, which allows gardaí to hold suspects for seven days before they have to be charged or released.

Separately, gardaí have arrested a man and seized cannabis herb worth in excess of €80,000 in the course of a planned operation in Donabate, north Co Dublin, on Saturday.

A man in his 50s was arrested and detained at Swords Garda station. He has since been released pending further enquiries.

Gardaí also arrested a man and seized €40,000 worth of suspected cannabis herb, following a search in the Bray area of Wicklow on Saturday.

A man, aged in his 30s, was arrested in connection with the search and he was taken to Bray Garda station.

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times