Firearms seized during a major operation against organised crime include the same machine gun used by the Defence Forces, gardai have said.
The Army-issue Styer assault rifle was one of five weapons found during searches in Dublin on Monday and Tuesday when drugs valued at over €5 million were also seized by the Garda.
The three sub machine guns found included the Styer 9mm, a Heckler & Koch and an GSG5.
They can fire up to 800 rounds a minute, can pierce some armoured vehicles and are used by military and special forces around the world.
A Beretta pistol and approximately 100 rounds of ammunition were also found, along with a Heckler & Koch 9mm pistol. A silencer was fitted to one of the handguns.
Det Insp Colm O’Malley said machine guns like those found in the Dublin raids had not been seized from organised criminals before.
“We haven’t come across weapons like that so we are very surprised,” he said at Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, where the guns and drugs were put on display.
“They are assault weapons like those used by the Irish Army so it is surprising.”
Also on display were half-kilo and two-kilo vacuum packed blocks of heroin high in purity.
Weighing scales and cooking utensils, such as sieves, were found with the drugs. Gardai believe they were to be used to ready the drugs into single deal portions for sale on the streets.
“It would appear it was destined for the Irish market,” Det Insp O’Malley said of the drugs.
Supt Brendan Connolly, a senior officer from Clondalkin station, said the seizure represented the “major disruption” of a gang based in Clondalkin and Ballyfermot with international connections and reach.
“This is a significant seizure of heroin, which causes terrible damage in communities throughout this country,” he said.
“This operation has taken drugs, firearms and ammunition off our streets, which could have caused terrible damage.”
The operation began on Monday when a 39-year-old Dubliner suspected of working as a courier for the gang was stopped in a car in Clondalkin at about 4.30pm.
A search of the vehicle yielded about €4,000 in cash. The suspect’s home in Ballyfermot was searched, with gardaí discovering the three machine guns, a hand gun and cocaine valued at an estimated €50,000.
That operation led gardaí to lock-up premises on the Bluebell Industrial Estate in west Dublin yesterday where 32½kgs of heroin, with a street value of almost €5 million, was found.
Another handgun was also seized along with ammunition for the weapon. Gardaí said the value of the drugs seized has reached €5.2 million.
The target gang is run by members of a family with a number of addresses in the Ballyfermot and Clondalkin areas.
One of the men is currently in custody in Spain after he was caught with cocaine valued at almost €4 million in two suitcases that he was trying to hide.
Another gang member has served a lengthy prison sentence having been caught with a multi-million Euro consignment of heroin when he was in his mid 20s.
The gang has been operating for almost two decades and has also been involved in gun crime and gangland feuding.
