HUGE GARDA ECSTASY HAUL

A FORMER IRA bomber who served 14 years for explosives offences in England
is believed to be behind the A32B74m seizure of ecstasy in Dublin
yesterday - the second largest E-tab haul of its kind.

Gardai were last night questioning the Dublin man after finding 200,000
ecstasy tablets wrapped in large nylon bags in the back seat and boot of
his car at Patrick Street, Dublin, yesterday morning.

The suspect claims to have severed all his connections with the IRA, and
detectives do not believe he was working for the Provisionals dealing
drugs. The man is a senior member of a Dublin drug-dealing gang which has
been targeted for surveillance by the Garda National Drugs Unit.

However, he was once a senior operative with the IRA and served 14 years
for explosives offences in Britain before being served with an exclusion
order from the United Kingdom.

Although the suspect claims to have severed his connections with the IRA,
Special Branch detectives were also anxious to interview the married
45-year-old yesterday.

The seizure, the culmination of an investigation codenamed Operation
Cranberry, is the second biggest ecstasy haul in the history of the State.
It followed six weeks of surveillance on five suspected dealers by members
of the Garda National Drugs Unit. The Dublin father of two was arrested
yesterday while moving the Ecstasy from one location to another.

Members of the GNDU carried out further searches in Dublin yesterday and
they believe yesterday's haul will seriously dent the gang's operations.

"This was our second biggest haul of ecstasy. We are estimating the value
at A32B74m but that's at A312 a tab which is conservative. These drugs
were destined mostly for the Dublin market but a section of it was going
countrywide for the Christmas market.

"The potential for profit in ecstasy is huge so this will be a serious blow
to this gang.

"They are one of the bigger ecstasy dealers in Dublin and it will leave
them short of a good bit of money at Christmas," one officer said. The
former IRA man was arrested at 7.45am yesterday when detectives from the
GNDU stopped a car in Patrick Street in Dublin 8.

The detectives had been waiting throughout the night for the man to move
the drugs.

A search uncovered 200,000 ecstasy tablets wrapped in large nylon bags, two
on the back seat and two in the boot of the car. The man was arrested and
taken to Lucan Garda Station where he can be detained for questioning for
up to seven days under the Criminal Justice Drug Trafficking Act.

The only previous ecstasy haul to exceed yesterday's was in Balbriggan
earlier this year, where 250,000 Ecstasy tablets were found in the
possession of a Dundalk man.