DRUGS GODFATHER CAUGHT IN SWOOP

A criminal mastermind behind a gang responsible for importing heroin worth
at least IEP40 million into the country over the past ten months was caught
red-handed last night.

The drugs baron, who is only 22-years-old and from Ballyfermot in west
Dublin, was arrested with a haul of heroin after a joint operation by the
Garda national drugs unit and Greater Manchester police.

He was one of six people detained in a swoop by detectives from the
Manchester force's major crime unit on a semi-detached house in a local
authority estate in Oldham.

Some of the suspects were mixing and packaging heroin and amphetamines when
police burst into the house. The haul was estimated to be worth at least
IEP5m but detectives said the street value could be much higher after
forensic tests have been completed.

Three of those held were Irish the Ballyfermot gang leader who has been
living in Manchester for the past 18 months, his girlfriend from Dublin's
north city and a teenager from Ballyfermot.

Two senior members of the Garda national unit had travelled to Manchester
earlier this week and the swoops were the culmination of an investigation
mounted by the two police forces since the early summer.

HEROIN MARKET

Police are satisfied that the drugs were destined for the Dublin market and
were directly linked to a record IEP9m haul of heroin seized by the gardai
at the North Wall and Dun Laoghaire 11 days ago.

Detectives seized 22 kilos of heroin and 48.5 kilos of cannabis after
searching three cars. Some of the drugs were stuffed into door panels which
prevented one driver from opening a window.

One police source said last night: ``This was a major cross-channel drug
trafficking route and it has now been smashed. The finds in Dublin
destroyed the gang's transportation network and the swoop today has netted
the main man.''

The gang leader, who moved into the drugs trafficking market a few years
ago after first coming to Garda attention for his role in a ram raiding
gang in west Dublin, had been the prime target of the probe.

Police believe that the gang succeeded in importing up to ten shipments of
heroin from Manchester to Dublin since January before the breakthrough at
the end of last month and estimate the value of the shipments at a
conservative IEP40m.

Gardai had been aware for several months that the Dublin market was flooded
with heroin as the street price had not dropped despite a series of
seizures by the national unit and other squads.

Searches were also carried out in Dublin last night by the garda national
unit, under Det Chief Supt Ted Murphy and Det Supt Austin McNally, and
concentrated on houses in Ballyfermot and the north city.

Police are also probing the connection between the gang and Turkish
criminals who bring in the heroin to Britain from south east Asia.

The previous record haul of seized heroin involved seven kilos found in a
field near Lusk, Co Dublin, two months ago.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski