BREAKING: Major blow to criminality as Limerick gardai take €1.5m of drugs off streets

LIMERICK gardai have hit major criminals in their pockets and taken €1.54m worth of drugs off the streets. 

Gardaí attached to the Limerick Divisional Drug Unit, supported by Regional Units based in Limerick, conducted an intelligence led operation targeting the sale and supply of drugs in Limerick city on Wednesday.

A garda spokesperson said gardaí stopped a vehicle in the city and conducted a search of it.

“During the course of the search, gardaí discovered suspected cocaine worth an estimated €70,000.

“The driver of the vehicle, a male, aged in his 20s, was arrested and detained at a Limerick garda station under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking Act) 1996,” said a garda spokesperson.

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Gardaí subsequently obtained warrants and searched a second vehicle and a domestic residence.

“During the course of these searches, gardaí uncovered suspected cannabis (35 kilograms) and suspected cocaine (11 kilograms).

"The estimated value of these seizures are €700,000 and €770,000. The total value of these three seizures is €1.54 million,” said the garda spokesperson.

The seized drugs will be sent to Forensic Science Ireland for analysis.

“Investigations are ongoing,” concluded the garda spokesperson.

This seizure forms part of Operation Tara, an enhanced national anti-drugs strategy launched by the Garda Commissioner in July 2021.

Operation Tara aims to disrupt, dismantle, and prosecute drug trafficking networks at all levels — international, national, and local — involved in the importation, distribution, cultivation, production, and local sale and supply of controlled drugs.