Customs officers at Dublin airport have had one of their busiest periods in the last fortnight, seizing drugs, contraband cigarettes and cash valued at more than €850,000.
Six people have been charged in connection with the drugs finds.
Two air pistols and 1,500 tubs of prescription medicines have also been seized at the airport since the beginning of last week.
On Monday, 90,000 contraband cigarettes valued at €30,000 were found in freight labelled "machine parts". The shipment had arrived from Prague in the Czech Republic.
Two Lithuanian men were arrested and a file is being prepared for the DPP.
Recent cases include:
- Last Sunday a Dutch woman (44) and her daughter (26) were found to have ingested 1.5kg of cocaine worth €105,000. They were questioned after passengers getting off a Düsseldorf flight were profiled. Both have been charged.
- On Saturday a Dutchman (61) about to board a flight to Eindhoven had £167,420 (€248,000) in his luggage. The money was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act and frozen for an initial three-month period.
- Last Friday a Irish man (34) flew in from Amsterdam with 1kg of cannabis resin worth €7,000 in his luggage. A sniffer dog found the drugs.
- Last Thursday a Dutch man who arrived from Dusseldorf was questioned following random profiling. He had ingested 0.9kg of cocaine valued at €63,000.
The most significant of the recent operations took place two weeks ago on August 17th.
In a joint operation with US customs and immigration services 161kgs of the drug khat worth €322,000 were found in the luggage of two UK women aged 26 and 21, who were travelling to the US. The women were arrested and charged.
Khat is almost exclusively used by north-eastern Africans, mainly Somalis, Kenyans and Ethiopians. It is a natural amphetamine, and causes erratic and occasionally violent behaviour.
