Three men were in Garda custody last night after heroin worth an estimated €1 million was found when a car was stopped and searched at the M50 toll plaza in Dublin. Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent, reports.
The drugs are believed to have originated in the Netherlands. The seizure was made as part of a joint operation between gardaí and Dutch police.
Two men, aged 29 and 27, were in the car carrying the drugs. Both are Irish and from Finglas. They were arrested at the scene at 8.40pm on Thursday and were taken to Blanchardstown Garda station where they were still being questioned last night.
They were arrested under section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act and can be held for up to seven days without charge. In a follow-up operation, gardaí searched a house in Newbridge, Co Kildare, at 11pm on Thursday.
A 48-year-old man was arrested at that address.
He was also taken to Blanchardstown Garda station and was being questioned there last night under section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act.
Gardaí are unsure how or when the drugs entered the State. However, they are satisfied they originated in the Netherlands.
The consignment weighed 5kg and, depending on purity, is valued at €1 million.
Gardaí believe the haul was owned by criminals operating in the Crumlin and Drimnagh areas of south Dublin. The gang the drugs are linked to has been embroiled in a feud with a rival gang from the same area since 2001.
So far 10 men have been killed as part of the feud. It was started in 2001 when rivalries between the groups of then teenagers escalated into gun attacks after a consignment of drugs was seized in a hotel in the centre of Dublin.
One gang member was accused by his associates of having provided the information to gardaí that led to the seizure.
Since then one man has been beaten to death, eight others have died in shootings while another died as a result of an aggravated assault.
Gardaí investigating Thursday's seizure were last night continuing to liaise with the Dutch authorities on the matter. A number of members of the feuding factions are known to have established contacts with drugs gangs in the Netherlands in recent years.