Gardaí expect further arrests, including of leading figures in one of Ireland’s largest drugs gangs, after an international operation resulted in the seizure of 100kg of cocaine and a large sum of cash, in Wexford and Dublin.
On Tuesday night five men were in Garda custody following the seizure of the cocaine, valued conservatively at €6-€8 million along with large sums of cash. The operation was led by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and detectives were part of a European and North American operation that infiltrated an encrypted messaging system.
Europol, the European policing agency, described the international operation as “a major action against an encrypted communication platform used for criminal activities, such as large-scale drugs trafficking, homicides and money laundering”.
The FBI, Canadian Mounted Police, French National Gendarmerie and Australian Federal Police were also involved, along with authorities in Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.
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A number of vehicleswere also being examined as part of the Irish component of the operation.
Gardaí were trying to establish whether one of the men being questioned is a strategically important figure linking an Irish transport firm to the Dublin-based gang, known as “The Family”, which is believed to own the seized cocaine. A number of the gang’s leaders, who are now in their 40s but have been known to gardaí since they were teenagers, have served prison sentences for drug smuggling in the past. In more recent years, they have been investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau and some of the largest cash and drug seizures in the Republic since the onset of the pandemic in 2020 have been linked to the group.
“The Family” has been heavily involved in drug trafficking for almost 30 years, starting in the heroin trade before diversifying into cocaine. It expanded, in terms of domestic and international reach, in the 2016-2018 period. “The Family” capitalised on the gap in the drugs market while the group that ran the Kinahans’ Irish operation came under intense Garda investigation because of the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
Gardaí suspect “The Family” were effectively using a legitimate transport company based in the Republic to import very large consignments of drugs into the State.
The 100kg cocaine seized in a rural farming area in Wexford on Monday, followed by the arrest of four suspects, is regarded as a major blow to the gang, as gardaí believe it effectively closes one of their main drug smuggling routes.
Garda sources said that although the drugs found on Monday have been conservatively valued at between €6-€8 million, the street value could be a multiple of that depending on the purity level of the consignment.
Europol, the Garda and international law enforcement agencies are expected to set out more detail on Wednesday.
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