Nearly €2.7 million worth of illegal drugs were seized in Dublin and Cork yesterday in a series of Garda operations which included a high-speed chase on the M50 motorway outside the capital.
Two gardaí were injured when a car used by some of the people arrested crashed into several other cars on the M50 before colliding with a Garda car.
Five people were in custody in Dublin last night following the drug seizure yesterday afternoon in the city.
Three men and two women were detained under Section Two of the Drug Trafficking Act following the discovery by gardaí of cocaine with an estimated street value of €1 million.
At about 2 p.m. gardaí attempted to stop a car on the M50 under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
"In their attempt to escape, the car collided with a number of civilian vehicles on the motorway before it collided with a Garda vehicle," according to a Garda spokesperson.
Two gardaí needed hospital attention following this collision, he added.
Approximately 2 kilos of cocaine were found in the car and the two occupants were arrested at the scene.
In a follow-up search at a hotel on the Naas Road, three people were arrested and about 10 kilos of cocaine were seized.
According to gardaí, all those arrested are in their 20s or early 30s.
"Of the persons arrested, a male and female are from Cork, one male is from the Clondalkin area and another male and female are from the UK," the Garda spokesman added.
The five people arrested were being held at Clondalkin and Ballyfermot Garda Stations under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act, and can be detained for up to seven days.
Meanwhile, in what was a related operation, gardaí in east Cork recovered ecstasy with a street value of €1.5 million, and cocaine worth about €25,000 on the street.
The follow-up operation took place in the town of Midleton last night.
Drug squad detectives backed up by uniformed officers carried out a series of searches .
They recovered 150,000 ecstasy tablets and a quarter kilo of cocaine when they searched a house and apartment in the town.