Man arrested after 15,000 ecstasy tablets, half kilo of cocaine found in Cork

Gardaí searched a hotel room on the southside of the city under warrant at around 4pm on Saturday

Cork gardaí have arrested a man (28) after the discovery of more than €200,000 worth of drugs in a hotel room. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times
Cork gardaí have arrested a man (28) after the discovery of more than €200,000 worth of drugs in a hotel room. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times

Gardaí have arrested a man (28) after the discovery of a significant quantity of drugs in a hotel room in Cork City over the weekend.

The man was arrested when officers from the Cork City Divisional Drugs unit searched a room in a hotel on the southside of the city under warrant at around 4pm on Saturday.

Detectives found 15,000 ecstasy tablets with a street value of €150,000 and a half kilo of cocaine with a street value of €35,000 that they believe were destined for the Cork market.

The arrested man, who is from the Togher area, was taken to Togher Garda station where he is being questioned about the seizure which gardaí described as “significant”.

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He is being held under drugs trafficking legislation that allow suspects to be held for up to seven days, before they must either be charged by gardaí or be released.

The seizure is this second major drugs seizure by the Cork City Divisional Drugs Unit this week and follows the discovery on Wednesday of 12kg of cocaine with a street value of €840,000.

Officers found the drugs hidden in a secret compartment when they stopped and searched a car on the main Cork-Dublin Road, the M8, at Glanmire on the outskirts of Cork City.

The driver of the car, a Latvian national (31), was arrested and has since been charged before the courts and remanded in custody to appear in court again on December 27th.

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times