GARDAI WIDEN SEARCH AFTER LOCATING CANNABIS

Gardai, who discovered pounds 400,000 worth of cannabis in boglands in
North Cork yesterday, believe they have uncovered a drugs pick-up
point regularly used by a Cork City gang.

Detectives plan a widescale search of the area today, using sniffer
dogs to locate more drugs.

The consignment of cannabis was discovered in bogland, at Nadd in
North Cork, ten miles from the village of Kanturk.

The 40 kilos of cannabis, each valued at pounds 10,000, were
discovered wrapped in plastic bags in two boxes, in a bogland area,
verged by woodlands about a mile in from the roadway.

Gardai from Macroom and Cork sealed off the area yesterday afternoon
and began searching for more drugs. The gardai plan to use sniffer
dogs today to search for more cannabis.

"It looks like this was a pick-up point. The drugs were in plastic
bags in two boxes and we are hoping to find more tomorrow. It looks
like a Cork City gang were using this area to store the drugs," a
garda source said.

"This will not put them out of business by any means, but it will hurt
them nonetheless," the source added.

This is the second major drugs seizure in this part of North Cork in
recent years. It follows the discovery by the Cork Drugs Unit of over
pounds 1m worth of cannabis and ecstasy in a car abandoned by its
driver at a checkpoint near Donoughmore in April, 1995.

Those drugs were destined for one of the country's top gangs, headed
by three men who were at the time based in Cork. Since then, one of
the men, Edward Judd Scanlon, has been imprisoned for drugs offences,
while the other two have fled to Amsterdam following pressure from the
Criminal Assets Bureau and the Cork Drugs Unit.