A lorry driver stopped by Belgian police jumped out of his cab and ran this week, leaving behind a €6m drugs consignment apparently bound for Ireland. Joe Humphreys assesses the battle being fought on two fronts - stopping the suppliers and treating the victims
As with any drugs seizure, this week's massive find of ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis in an Irish-registered truck in Belgium can be viewed two ways: a boon to the drug enforcement authorities or an illustration of what a hopeless task they face in cutting the supply of drugs.
Actually, it is possible to view such seizures both ways at once, although the Belgian find lends itself towards the latter. That's because it appears to have less to do with police work than good fortune.
If the driver of the lorry had held his nerve, and driven through an unrelated checkpoint set up to catch illegal immigrants, the drugs may well be in Ireland now. Instead, apparently spooked by the police presence, he fled the scene, leaving the driver's door open, and a shipment, sourced in the Netherlands and valued at more than €6 million, on board.
Whether or not he got cold feet, the driver had good reason to feel nervous. Gardaí and Dutch police have landed a number of recent blows on drug traffickers on the well-worn Amsterdam-Dublin route.
Most notably, two related seizures were made last month by the Garda National Drugs Unit as part of an investigation into a major drugs gang operating from a base in the Netherlands.
Cannabis with a combined street value of at least €17 million was seized in successive raids in Coolock, north Dublin, and Slade Valley equestrian centre near Rathcoole, west Dublin. A number of people are due before the courts in relation to the finds.
In the Netherlands, there have been successes too - not only in intercepting drug shipments destined for Ireland but also in prosecuting traffickers. Last July, David Long (38) from Co Dublin was sentenced to five years by a Dutch court for possession and exporting hard drugs.
He was linked to a multi-million euro trafficking operation between the Netherlands and Ireland over a number of years.
The Belgian shipment is understood to have been organised by a separate gang, based in the Border area between the Republic and Northern Ireland.
Gardaí believe the drugs were destined for a number of lock-ups in the Border area before onward distribution to Dublin and the UK. Such hauls bear out of a pattern in recent years of increased trafficking detection.
The number of Garda arrests for drug offences increased last year by a third over figures for the year 2000, and total seizures more than doubled in the same period from €20 million to €50 million.
Added to this were seizures made by the Customs and Excise. Almost €61 million - €58 million of which was accounted by herbal cannabis or "grass" - was seized by customs officers last year, an increase from €11 million in 2000. Impressive figures.
But the question remains: are such seizures of any long-term benefit? Without similar progress on cutting demand, many would say No. Back in Dublin this week, gardaí began a fresh wave of arrests under its recently-introduced Operation Clean Streets. Up to 100 people identified by as heroin dealers were targeted in swoops which began at 7 a.m. on Tuesday.
By the end of the day, 27 people were in custody and €25,000 in heroin seized. Ironically, however, the operation coincided with warnings of a new threat on the city's streets - that of cut-price cocaine. Launching a new report on the impact of drug abuse on families, the North Inner City Drugs Task Force cited an increase in cocaine available on the streets at cheaper prices.
Its warning tallies with that of drug treatment centres in the city which have reported an upsurge in the number of cocaine abusers presenting themselves for treatment.
Mr Mel MacGiobúin, the task force's acting co-ordinator, said the new threat underlined the need to avoid complacency in tackling the drugs problem.
"There is no denying we have seen considerable progress made. We don't have the highly visible problems we once had - the street dealing, and difficulties in local authorities complexes.
"But given drugs have been a problem for a 20-year period, from the mid-1980s to the early '90s - when it was at it worst - we shouldn't think five to six years will turn the problem around."
He said a number of community organisations were concerned that funding for anti-drugs projects might be curtailed within the more stringent economic environment.
In addition, some such groups, like Merchants Quay Ireland, have criticised what they perceive as a concentration of resources in tackling supply rather than demand for drugs.
"There is a need obviously for policing and supply reduction but we would like to see more resources going into drug treatment and rehabilitation, education and training," said Mr MacGiobúin.
"A lot of the second round of plans prepared by task forces under the National Drugs Strategy would not have received the same level of funding that was anticipated. There is a concern among the community and various projects that unless the drugs issue is kept as a high priority we may face cutbacks, and certain communities will face the brunt of that."
THE Labour Party's spokesman on justice, Mr Pat Rabbitte, echoed this concern, citing a delay in establishing a drug treatment centre in his Dublin South West constituency. Funding for the project at Jobstown has been approved "but since then nothing's happened", Mr Rabbitte said.
"It's quite impenetrable to try to get answers but certainly some of the groups concerned in the community believe there is a slowdown."
Mr Noel Ahern, the Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, with responsibility for the drugs strategy, said yesterday he accepted groups were concerned about funding.
However, he said "there are no cuts in the Department's budget this year in relation to anything dealing with drug treatment".
Discussions on next year's budget were still ongoing, he said. "This Department has made its pitch for additional funding for other measures of the drugs strategy and I am determined to continue to make drugs a priority."
Whether treatment funding will be prioritised above enforcement, however, remains unclear.
The Government has certainly put great emphasis on the latter recently with the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, seeking a 25 per cent increase in drug seizures by 2004, and a 50 per cent increase by 2008.
Mr Rabbitte said he was "very sceptical" about such targets, adding "while I welcome measures on the security side, I would not like to see any emphasis going off reduction in demand".
He added: "I support the gardaí but I am sceptical of the latest news bulletin telling us about the largest drugs haul in the city. I don't think we should encourage the idea of measuring effective policing on a productivity basis."
Mr MacGiobúin also emphasised the need to avoid a one-track approach.
Of recent drug seizures, he said, "they do have definite effects on supply. Availability of particular drugs at particular times dry up. But those effects generally tend to be quite short lived because there always seems to be another network or gang involved in drug trafficking who can replace the loss."