GARDAI have arrested three men after seizing 182kg of cocaine and 4kg of cannabis herb worth over a combined €12.8 million.
Cops from the Dublin Crime Response Team are conducting an intelligence-led operation in Mountmellick, Co Laois and a number of other locations this evening.
During the operation they took around 182kg of cocaine and 4kg of cannabis herb.
The estimated value of drugs seized is over €12.8 million.
Three men have been arrested and are currently detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996, at Garda stations in the Eastern Region.
Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary, Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR), said: “This intelligence-led operation conducted by the Dublin Crime Response Team (DCRT) has taken down the main supply network for cocaine and crack cocaine into West Dublin.
“This operation targeting the sourcing, preparation and distribution of substantial quantities of these illicit drugs, stopped them from entering our communities and is another significant blow to an Organised Criminal Group.
“Investigations are ongoing.”
It comes after a major operation was carried out at Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison following a weekend of mayhem in which an officer was sliced and another had a hot cup of tea thrown in his face.
The Irish Sun has learned that around 30 phones and 5,000 tablets were seized at the jail this week.
Officers also nabbed bags of crack cocaine, while weapons were also discovered.
TENSIONS HIGH
Sources have also told how there has been heightened tensions at the prison over the weekend.
The most high-profile incident, which was revealed by the Irish Sun, saw one officer sliced from his lip to his chin.
The lag who carried out the attack is a dangerous criminal with almost 80 convictions whose behaviour has been extremely volatile behind bars.
But there have also been at least two further attacks on staff in Mountjoy, with one officer injured when he had a hot cup of tea thrown in his face. Another was assaulted in the same part of the lock-up.
‘VIOLENT’ INCIDENTS
In the ‘D’ division, inmates have been smashing lights and swinging brushes at staff.
One source said: “Tensions at the prison have been high in recent days.
“There is clearly a lot of drugs in circulation and this is leading to incidents, often violent.
“And it is prison officers who are at risk here in these situations.
CONTRABAND ‘FLOWING’
“There was an operation in the prison on Monday to try and get on top of it. A large number of phones and drugs were seized.
“But it is clear that large amounts of contraband is flowing into this prison”.
It is suspected that much of the contraband is being delivered by drones in packages dubbed as ‘fireballs.’
This is where packages are set on fire and dropped on yard nets by drones to burn through into the grounds before they are collected by lags.
There were four drone drops in one day to Mountjoy recently.
The Irish Prison Service has been grappling with the issues of drone deliveries for a number of years.
