EIGHT ARE DETAINED FOLLOWING IEP7.5M HEROIN AND COCAINE SEIZURES

HEROIN worth an estimated IEP7 million has been seized and eight
people were under arrest last night following a joint operation by the
Garda National Drugs Unit and gardai in Balbriggan.

A further haul of cocaine, with a street value of IEP500,000, was
recovered in south Co. Dublin following a series of planned raids in
the wake of the heroin find.

The seven kilogrammes of heroin is the biggest seizure of its kind in
Ireland. The haul was found on land near Lusk in north Co. Dublin last
month. However the seizure and lengthy surveillance operation was kept
from the media because gardai feared any publicity would alert one of
the main men involved in the deal.

He was out of the country at the time but was arrested by gardai after
he returned to Dublin on Wednesday and taken to Balbriggan garda station.

The heroin was concealed in a field on open land about six miles south
of Balbriggan. It was taken to Garda Headquarters in Dublin for purity
tests but most probably originated in the Far East. Gardai believe it
was destined for sale in the North Dublin city market and belonged to
a drugs gang based there.

As part of a follow up operation gardai from the National Drugs Unit
carried out surveillance on the movements of a number of people around
Dublin and on Wednesday night and yesterday they arrested six men and
two women who were detained under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

"After the arrests we carried out a number of planned searches which
recovered cocaine worth about IEP500,000 in South County Dublin and
believed to belong to one of the men involved in the kidnapping of
Jennifer McGuinness," a senior garda said.

It also emerged yesterday that information gathered by the GNDU led
the UK's National Crime Unit to seize 600 kilos of cannabis resin
worth approximately IEP6 million. Some 450 kilos were found in
Liverpool and 150 in London.

It is believed to have originated on the Continent and to have been en
route to its final destination when police seized it.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry