Latest news with #GNDOCB
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Irish Times
Drugs valued at €2.2 million seized by gardaí in Dublin and Laois
More than €2 million of drugs have been seized in related raids by gardaí in Laois and Dublin. A man has been arrested in connection with the seizure and is being detained under the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 at a Garda station in the Dublin metropolitan region. The raids were part of investigations under Operation Tara targeting drug-trafficking networks. Officers from Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau were involved in the raids with help from the Clondalkin Drugs Unit. READ MORE They first intercepted a vehicle on the M7 in Co Laois on Friday. About €100,000 of suspected cocaine was discovered and seized. A man in his 30s was arrested at the scene. A follow-up search at a home in west Dublin led to the discovery of an estimated €160,000 cannabis, €1.2 million ketamine, €530,000 cocaine and €210,000 diamorphine. Cash and a number of items were also seized by gardaí. The seized drugs, with a total estimated street value of €2.2 million, have been sent to Forensic Science Ireland for analysis. Gardaí said investigations were continuing.
Irish Times
09-07-2025
- Irish Times
Gardaí working with UK National Crime Agency as part of investigation into €31 million West Cork drugs haul
Gardaí are liaising closely with the National Crime Agency in the UK as part of their ongoing investigation into the seizure of €31 million of drugs in west Cork, a court has heard. Det Garda Gavin Curran of the Garda National Drugs and Organized Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) said gardaí were continuing to make progress in their investigation into the huge cocaine haul. Some 440kg of cocaine were seized by gardaí at Courtmacsherry, Co Cork, on July 1st in a Joint Task Force operation which also involved Customs and Excise and the Naval Service. Two men arrested in Courtmacsherry, and two men arrested at Haulbowline Naval Base after they were detained at sea by the LE William Butler Yeats, were later charged at Bandon District Court. READ MORE Mark Doherty, Levant Gulay, Ben Sandford and Christopher Hibbett were all charged with possession of cocaine, and possession of cocaine for sale or supply, at Meelmane, Courtmacsherry on July 1st. Judge Joanne Carroll remanded all four in custody to Macroom District Court, where they appeared on Wednesday morning amid tight security, including officers from the Garda Armed Support Unit. Det Garda Curran said a kilo of the drug had been sent to the Forensic Science Ireland laboratory, which confirmed that it was cocaine, but tests need to be done on further samples. He said that GNDOCB were liaising the National Crime Agency in the UK to pursue a number of lines of inquiry into the seizure. 'I can't give you an exact timeline on when a file is going to be ready given the numbers of lines of inquiry, but I can confirm the investigation is ongoing and progress is being made,' he said. Judge Carroll acknowledged the Garda's evidence and Sgt Emer O'Connell applied for a continuing remand in custody for all four to appear at Clonakilty District Court on July 15th. Earlier, solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said that he was not applying for bail for his client Mr Doherty (40), of Waterfoot Avenue, Glasgow, at this point, but he was seeking free legal aid for him. He submitted a statement of means, saying Mr Doherty was living in a local authority house in Glasgow where he was working as a builder's labourer and had no funds to pay for his defence. Judge Carroll said that she would adjourn her decision on free legal aid until the next court sitting to allow gardaí confirm the details that he had filled out in his statement of means. Mr Taaffe, deputising for Frank Buttimer, said another accused, Mr Sandford (39) of Woodgreen, Drum Road, Keith, Moray, Scotland, was also reserving his position on a bail application. Solicitor Patrick Goold, deputising for Eddie Burke, said that his client Mr Hibbett (44), of Lower Park, Trissillian, Truro, England, was similarly making no application for bail at this stage. Solicitor Jack Purcell, deputising for Myra Dineen, said his client Mr Gulay (31) of Schwabeenstrasse, Neu Ulm, Germany, was similarly making no application for bail. Judge Carroll said in the light of there being no bail applications, she was granting the Garda application and she remanded all four in custody to appear at Clonakilty District Court by video-link on July 15th.
Irish Times
02-07-2025
- Irish Times
Customs officers boarded ship suspected of delivering €31 million drugs haul off Cork coast
Customs officials boarded and examined a ship suspected of delivering cocaine worth almost €31 million to an international drugs trafficking gang off the south-west coast of Ireland. The officers examined ship movements off Broad Strand near Courtmacsherry in West Cork and identified a bulk carrier, which they believe may have brought the drugs across the Atlantic from South America for collection off the Cork coast. The carrier passed 20 miles off Broad Strand in the early hours of Tuesday morning, leading customs officials to believe it may have been the ship that delivered the drugs to the gang waiting in a rigid inflatable boat (RIB). Customs rummage crews boarded the ship in Irish waters on Tuesday and carried out an examination of it. However, they found nothing of evidential value to the criminal investigation and the ship was told it was free to continue on its voyage. READ MORE Meanwhile, detectives from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) continue to work with international police forces and the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC- N) in Lisbon in a bid to trace the origin of the huge drugs haul. Gardai from GNDOCB backed up by armed officers from the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) seized the drugs as they were being driven away from Broad Strand near Courtmacsherry by two of the four-man gang involved in landing the cocaine at the empty beach at around 4am. Armed officers stopped the UK-registered rental van and arrested the driver, a a 40-year-old man from Glasgow in Scotland and his passenger, a 31-year-old German from Bavaria. The officers recovered 440kg of cocaine in 18 vacuum packed blocks from the back of the van. The two men, whom gardai believed travelled from the UK with the van at the weekend, were taken for questioning to Bandon Garda station. They can be detained for up to seven days under drugs trafficking legislation. The Naval Service apprehended two other members of the gang, a 44-year-old Englishman from Cornwall and a 36-year-old Scot from Aberdeenshire, when two Maritime Interdiction Teams stopped and boarded their RIB off Waterford. The Naval Service detained the two men, whom they believe were returning to the UK, and brought them back to Naval Service headquarters where they were handed over to gardaí. The two men were arrested and taken to Togher Garda station for questioning. They too are being held under drugs trafficking legislation. The haul of drugs has been sent for analysis by scientists at Forensic Science Ireland to establish the purity of the cocaine. This will give a more accurate estimate as to the potential street value of the consignment.
Irish Times
02-07-2025
- Irish Times
Gardaí question four arrested in connection with the seizure of more than €30m worth of cocaine
Gardaí were on Tuesday night continuing to question four men arrested in connection with the seizure of more than €30 million worth of cocaine off the south coast. Some 25 officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) were involved in the operation early Tuesday morning, which led to the seizure of 440kg of cocaine in Courtmacsherry, west Cork . The national surveillance unit was also involved in the operation, as well as a team of armed officers from the emergency response unit (ERU) who had travelled from Dublin. It is believed that two members of the gang came over from the UK by ferry from Fishguard over the weekend, while two others arrived in a high-powered rigid inflatable boat (RIB) two days ago. READ MORE It is understood the two men in the RIB crossed from Cornwall and sailed down the southwest coast, overnighting in Kinsale before meeting up with their associates in Courtmacsherry. They then travelled out from the Co Cork town to rendezvous with a cargo ship somewhere off the southwest coast and collect the drugs, which they brought ashore at nearby Broad strand. The four landed the drugs at the isolated beach and gardaí watched them unload 18 bales of cocaine, each weighing 25kg, from the RIB at about at 4am on Tuesday. Gardaí continued to keep the gang under surveillance as they loaded the drugs into the back of a van, and detectives allowed two of the gang drive the vehicle away from the beach. A team of armed officers from the ERU then intervened and stopped the van a short distance away in Courtmacsherry and arrested the driver and his passenger. Detectives then brought the two men, a 40-year-old Scot from Glasgow and a 31-year-old German from Bavaria, to Bandon Garda station for questioning about the drug seizure. The Irish Naval Service ship the LÉ William Butler Yeats detained the two other members of the gang off the Waterford coast following a pursuit involving two naval service RIBS. Two armed maritime interdiction teams in naval service RIBs stopped and boarded the suspected smugglers' vessel, which it is believed was en route back to Cornwall, and detained the suspects. The two men were brought aboard the ship and taken to Haulbowline naval base, where they were handed over to GNDOCB detectives, who immediately arrested them. The two men, a 44-year-old Englishman from Cornwall and a 36-year-old Scot from Aberdeenshire, were taken to Togher Garda station in Cork city for questioning. All four suspects are held under section 50 of the Criminal Justice (Drugs Trafficking Act) 2007, which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to seven days before they must be charged or released. Customs officers were meanwhile working to trace the movements of the mother ship, which they believed travelled from South America in the past week with the vacuum-packed cocaine haul. Gardaí believe that none of the four men was resident in Ireland and travelled to west Cork specifically to land the drugs in a quiet area where they would go unnoticed. The gang was using a UK-registered rental van to move the drugs, and gardaí have begun liaising with British police through Europol to try to establish when the van was rented and by whom. They have also begun inquiries with British police to find out more about the three Britons arrested and with German police to find out more about the German suspect. It is unclear whether all the drugs were intended for the UK market or whether a portion was intended for supply in Ireland. Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris and Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan congratulated the gardaí, the Naval Service and Customs for their work in foiling the smuggling operation.
Irish Times
01-07-2025
- Irish Times
Four men arrested as cocaine worth estimated €35m seized off south west coast
Gardaí have seized an estimated €35 million worth of cocaine and arrested four men after foiling an international drug smuggling operation off the southwest coast. Detectives from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau arrested two men near Courtmacsherry in west Cork after they landed half a tonne of cocaine at Broad Strand. Gardaí arrested two other men on board a boat which was apprehended off the Co Waterford coast by the Naval Service after it had dropped the drugs ashore. Gardaí were monitoring the operation as the gang landed the drugs at about 4am and loaded the shipment into a van. READ MORE They stopped the van and arrested the two occupants – a Scottish man in his 40s and a German in his 30s – and brought them to Bandon Garda station for questioning. Meanwhile, officers from GNDOCB arrested two Britons in Waterford after they were apprehended in a RIB by the Irish Navy ship, LE WB Yeats, during a joint operation which also involved Customs officers. The Irish Air Corps also had an involvement in the operation with a plane monitoring vessel movements. The two men are to be questioned at a Garda station in Cork City about the drugs haul, which gardaí believe originated in South America. All four men have been detained under drugs trafficking legislation which allows gardaí detain suspects for up to seven days before they must be charged or released.
