TURK GANG BEHIND POUNDS 1M DRUG HAUL

Turkish heroin traffickers were behind a pounds 1m drugs consignment
seized by gardai when they stopped a car in Dublin yesterday.

The haul of heroin and cocaine was destined for a south city gang
based around Crumlin and intended for distribution around the capital.

Detectives arrested a 41-year-old Drimnagh man after the seizure and
he was being questioned last night at Blanchardstown station under the
Criminal Justice Act.

Gardai have established that the shipment was purchased in London from
a gang of Turks who now control the heroin market in many major
British cities.

The haul of three kilos of heroin and two kilos of cocaine had been
brought into the country recently and detectives set up a surveillance
operation on a number of suspects.

Senior officers decided to move in yesterday morning and detectives
stopped a suspect car at Errigal Road in Drimnagh. They found the
drugs concealed in plastic wrappings. Depending on the results of
purity tests, the haul is reckoned to have a street value of between
pounds 1m and pounds 1.2m.

A follow-up search in a house in Drimnagh uncovered evidence to show
that it was being used by the gang as a ``clearing house'' to divide
up shipments into smaller packages for distribution to street dealers.

Three motorcycles, suspected of being used by the gang for
distribution, were also seized at the house and taken away for
forensic examination.

The Crumlin gang also has links to a family-run drugs operation on the
west side of the city.