A LIMERICK criminal who has recently been released from a lengthy jail sentence for drug dealing is due in court this morning in connection with a major cannabis seizure at the weekend.
The 44-year-old father of five was due to appear before Dublin District Court, along with a truck driver from Co Fermanagh, to be charged in relation to the €750,000 drug seizure.
Both men were arrested in Dublin on Saturday by members of the Garda National Drugs Unit. Garda sources said they believed the Limerick man was collecting the drugs from the Fermanagh man when gardaí moved in on them at Airside Retail Park, near Swords in north Co Dublin.
Gardaí stopped a car and a Northern registered truck at the business park at 12.30pm. A search of the truck yielded 50kg of cannabis pollen – a strong cannabis product produced for smoking – and 10kg of cannabis herb. The haul was destined for the Limerick market.
The men were arrested at the scene and were detained at Malahide and Swords Garda stations over the weekend. Their vehicles were taken for examination by the Garda Technical Bureau.
Gardaí are operating on the theory that the Fermanagh man, in his early 40s, had brought the drugs into the Republic on his truck from Britain via car ferry.
Gardaí believe the drugs were imported by a drug-smuggling network involving Limerick, British and Northern Irish criminals. Gardaí are working closely with police in Britain and with the PSNI.
Saturday’s arrests followed an intelligence-led surveillance operation by the Garda National Drugs Unit.
The Limerick criminal was released last year from a lengthy jail term after being caught with more than £1 million worth of ecstasy in Co Clare in 2001. Cannabis valued at £50,000 was also seized during that operation as well as £17,000 in cash.
The Criminal Assets Bureau seized €39,000 from him about the time of his release from prison.
When he was charged in 2001 in relation to the £1 million ecstasy seizure, a second man, from Co Clare, was charged with the same offence. However, that man was killed before the case went to court.