GARDAÍ HAVE seized almost as many illicit drugs in the first six months of this year as in all of last year, it has emerged.
The increasing seizure figures are being driven by sustained high demand for heroin and cocaine. In the past two years heroin has been seized in much greater quantities than any other illicit drug.
Garda drug seizure figures released by the Department of Justice reveal drugs with an estimated street value of €46.8 million were seized in the first six months of the year. This compares with the €50.3 million worth of drugs seized by the force throughout all of last year.
A major €105 million seizure of cocaine in Cork last year is not included in the comparative figures because it was not believed to have been destined for the Irish market.
The figures for the first six months of this year reveal heroin seizures have topped €18 million. Seizures of cannabis resin have already exceeded 2007's total, with the total in the first six months of the year having reached €19.8 million. Cocaine remains popular with some €7.2 million having been seized in the first half of the year.
Ecstasy seizures have greatly reduced, so far this year just over 83,000 tablets have been seized valued at €833,150.
When the UK-bound cocaine seized in Cork last year is removed from the annual garda drug seizure figures, heroin proved the most commonly intercepted drug in the country in 2007.
Gardaí seized €23.4 million worth of heroin last year, followed by cocaine valued at €15.3 million, cannabis at €9.6 million, ecstasy at €1.3 million and amphetamine at €914,000.
If heroin seizures for the first six months of this year continue for the rest of the year the annual total of the drug seized will far surpass any previous annual total.
Since 2001 the biggest quantity of the drug seized in any one-year period was in 2006 when gardaí intercepted 128kg, or €25.6 million, of the drug. In the first six months of this year some 91kg of the drug has been seized by gardaí.
In reply to a written Dáil question from Joanna Tuffy TD (Lab), Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern linked Ireland's heroin problem to developments in Afghanistan. He said some 90 per cent of heroin on sale in Europe originated in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a South African man and a woman were arrested in relation to two separate drugs finds. The woman was arrested at Cork airport on Sunday when cannabis valued at €171,000 was found in her luggage. She had arrived on a flight from Johannesburg via Amsterdam. The man was arrested after cannabis valued at €132,000 was found in his luggage at Shannon airport. He had flown from Johannesburg via Paris.
