GARDA PROBE ROLE IN AIRPORT DRUGS HAUL

AN internal garda inquiry has been ordered into the circumstances
surrounding garda dealings with a major Dublin drug dealer who was
cleared of importing pounds 1m worth of heroin and ecstasy by the
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Friday.

Declan Griffin, a 29-year-old garda informant from Bunratty Road in
Coolock, was cleared of the charges after a nine-day trial in which he
alleged that Sgt Denis Palmer, his garda handler in 1995, had
authorised him to bring the drugs into Ireland. Griffin told the court
that gardai were to follow him to his drop-off contact, where the
drugs would then be intercepted in the hands of the intended
recipients. He said he had been authorised by Sgt Palmer, who was at
Dublin Airport when Griffin was arrested by Customs officers, to bring
the drugs into the country.

Yesterday, Garda sources said that Commissioner Pat Byrne was
``extremely concerned'' that the jury did not accept the garda's
version of what happened, and had ordered an immediate internal
inquiry into the affair.