Gardaí in Co Cork are continuing to question a number of people following the seizure of several hundred thousand euro in a series of raids as part of an investigtion into an international money laundering operation.
Local detectives in Cork backed up by members of the Criminal Assets Bureau from Dublin carried out a number of raids on premises at various locations in the county on Saturday afternoon and arrested a number of people including a couple in their 30s.
The suspects were arrested under the Criminal Justice Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2010 and detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Drug Trafficking Act 1996 which allows suspects be detained for up a week before being either charged or released.
Garda sources were remaining tight lipped but it’s understood that detectives were this morning continuing to question the suspects about the discovery of the sums of money which gardai believe may be the proceeds of an international drug trafficking gang with links to The Netherlands and Spain.
The large quantity of cash has been transferred to Dublin for forensic examination by members of the Garda Technical Bureau as gardaí hope to try and obtain fingerprint evidence which would help them establish a link with the international drugs gang.
Gardaí also seized a small quantity of cannabis resin in one of the raids. Rhis has also been sent for analysis at the State Laboratory.
Garda teams are continuing to comb a number of locations around the county after obtaining search warrants in court.
Garda sources would not be drawn on the identity or membership of the criminal gang behind the operation but they did say that there was no paramilitary connection with the money laundering operation which they believe may have been in existence for a number of years.
It’s understood that Saturday’s operation was intelligence led and followed an intensive gardai investigation going back at least several months in which gardaí have liased closely with specialist police units in a number of other European countries.