Gardaí believe they have disrupted a major drugs supply line into north Cork following the seizure of €170,000 worth of cocaine and the arrest of a 35-year-old man in a planned operation on Monday night.
Detectives from the Cork County Divisional Drug Unit supported by local officers from Fermoy and Mitchelstown stopped and searched a car on Thomas Street in Mitchelstown shortly after 9pm and found almost 2.5kg of cocaine.
They arrested the driver and sole occupant of the car, a man from Cahir in Co Tipperary, and brought him to Fermoy Garda station for questioning about the drugs which officers believe were destined for the local north Cork market.
The man is currently detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 which allows gardaí hold a suspect for up to seven days before they must be either charged or released.
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The seizure is one of a number in north and east Cork by the Cork County Divisional Drugs Unit as part of Operation Tara which was launched by Commissioner Drew Harris in July 2021 aimed at disrupting, dismantling and prosecuting drug trafficking networks.
The enhanced national anti-drugs strategy targets drug trafficking networks at all levels, international, national and local who are involved in the importation, distribution, cultivation, production and sale and supply of drugs.
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