Gardaí in Dublin and Cork have seized drugs with an estimated value of €850,000 in a series of searches this evening aimed at breaking up an international drug smuggling gang.
The searches, which are ongoing, followed the arrest of four Irish passport holders and one Portuguese national in Portugal after the body of a Cork man was reportedly found in a fridge in a residence in the Algarve.
Three of those arrested are from Dublin and the other is from Cork. This evening gardai have raided a number of houses and flats in Dublin and Cork believed to be used by the cocaine traffickers.
More than 15 kilos of cocaine and mixing agent and a number of shot guns have been seized.
Two people have been arrested by gardaí. A man in his early thirties was arrested in north Dublin and is being detained at Balbriggan Garda Station under Section 2, Criminal Justice Act, 1996.
Following a search in the Ballymun a 45-year-old woman was arrested. She is detained under Section 30, Offences Against the State Act, 1939 at Santry Garda Station
More than €80,000 has also been seized.
The operation is being conducted by the Garda National Drugs Unit who are liaising with authorities in Portugal.