THE seizure of more than £200,000 from a drug gang in Dublin is believed by senior gardai to be the cause of many of the allegations of corruption now faced by the force.
The seizure dates back to a consignment of cannabis which ended up in a lorry container at Urlingford, Co Kilkenny, last November.
At the time, the Garda said they had found the 13 tonnes of cannabis with a street value of up to £130 million, in the lorry. Later it emerged detectives had made an earlier interception, and brought the drugs ashore from a vessel moored off shore in Co Cork.
The drugs were driven to Urlingford and left in the lorry container at the side of the main road to Dublin. Hidden armed gardai waited for it to be collected, but the drug gang never arrived.
However, on the same day, a car driven by a man connected to the drug gang was stopped by gardai in Dublin and £230,000 in cash found in his car was seized. The man has made every effort to have the money returned but far has been unsuccessful, according to gardai.
A major Irish drug trafficker is facing charges abroad is believed to have been the financial backer of the Urlingford consignment. Senior gardai believe that, ever since the Urlingford operation, three men working for him have been trying to "plant" articles in newspapers alleging corruption in the force.
According to these sources, the allegations began to be published only when the Garda authorities moved against individual members of the force believed to have connections with criminals, and bin one case believed to have worked for a criminal gang.
Garda management believes its investigations of particular officers involve isolated incidents and do not suggest any conspiracy among gardai working in an organised way for the drug traffickers.
In Co Cork, a garda has alleged that a more senior officer chose not to seek a charge against a drug trafficker on a lesser offence, and later arranged for him to serve a prison sentence in a low security prison, as part of a "deal" between the two men.
This allegation is being investigated by Chief Supt Sean Camon of the Central Detective Unit in Dublin.