Working as part of the Joint Agency Task Force (JATF), the Police Service of Northern Ireland and members attached to the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau conducted coordinated and simultaneous search operations on Tuesday 5 December.
Detectives from the Police Service’s Organised Crime Branch, who carried out searches in Newry, seized a number of items, including a vehicle and mobile phones. All have been removed for further examination.
Today’s searches are part of an investigation, led by An Garda Síochána, into a large seizure of cocaine from a cargo ship off the coast of Cork on Tuesday 26 September.
Officials recovered more than two tonnes of cocaine after a Panamanian-registered ship, the MV Matthew.
The drug was supplied by a “murderous” South American cartel group, Garda Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly told reporters at the time.
The elite Army Ranger Wing stormed the vessel with assistance from the Naval Service, Air Corps, Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, and customs officers.
Working with partners, the Police Service is committed to detecting and preventing drug-related activity – from the importation of drugs to the inevitable fallout.
In the course of the operation members of the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) conducted searches at locations in the Dublin area.
A woman, aged in her 30s, was also arrested in Dublin on Monday.
She is in custody and can be held for up to seven days under Ireland’s Criminal Justice Act.
Anyone with information, or concerns, about the illegal use or supply of drugs is asked to contact police on 101.
ENDS
CLANRYE NEWS 