GARDAÍ IN Cork have uncovered more than €25,000 worth of a new and highly dangerous form of ecstasy believed to be linked to the deaths of two men in Kinsale last weekend.
Officers from the west Cork divisional drugs squad recovered one-third of a kilo of the drug known as Mandy during a search of a field in Curraheen, Bishopstown, Cork city on Wednesday night.
It is understood it was found as part of an operation to recover quantities of the drug already linked to the fatalities.
Michael Coleman (22) and Liam Coffey (22) are believed to have died after taking some of the brown powder at Mr Coleman’s rented home at Abbey Lane in Kinsale at the weekend.
Gardaí believe that the two men bought three grams of the drug for about €240 from a dealer in Wilton on Saturday afternoon before travelling back to Kinsale.
The drug sells at about €80 a gram with a kilo costing about €2,500. It can be taken by swallowing, snorting or injecting when made into a solution.
The latest discovery comes after gardaí, under Supt Eddie MacEoin of Bandon Garda station, appealed to anyone who may have obtained some of the drug to contact officers in confidence. It was unclear yesterday whether the one-third of a kilo was dumped in Curraheen after Supt MacEoin issued his plea or whether it had been there beforehand.
No arrests have yet been made. The narcotics will be sent to the State Laboratory in Abbottstown to determine their composition but officers believe the drugs contain ecstasy or methylamphetamine (MDMA) and paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA).
Garda sources say Mandy is but one of up to 10 types of synthetic drug now being taken by ecstasy users – all of which, they suspect, are being manufactured abroad and smuggled into Ireland.
