Three held over €1.8m drugs haul

Three men have been arrested after gardaí seized drugs with an estimated street value of €1.8 million today.

The arrests followed what a Garda spokesman described as a planned operation in Kildare and Dublin this afternoon.

Gardaí from the Garda National Drugs Unit assisted by officers from the Organised Crime Unit searched a van and a car in Castlewarden, Co Kildare. They seized cannabis herb with an estimated street value of up to € 600,000 (pending analysis), the spokesman said.

In a follow-up search of a business premises in the Cookstown area of Tallaght, a further quantity of cannabis herb with an estimated street value of up to €1.2 million was discovered.

The men aged 31, 40 and 50, were arrested at the scene. They are being held under the provisions of section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 at Clondalkin Garda station.