EX-IRA DRUGS ENFORCER IN 5M CANNABIS DEAL

ONE of the men behind the £5m drugs consignment seized near Cahir, Co
Tipperary, last weekend is a former member of the IRA in Cork and was
involved in attacks on drug dealers in the city in the late 1980s, writes
Barry Roche.

The man, who is married and in his forties, had been a senior IRA figure in
the city for 20 years. He took part in a raid on the Ford factory in the
late 1970s and the abduction of John Corcoran, the IRA informer, in 1985.
He was also involved in vigilante-style punishment beatings against drug
dealers in the city. Together with his brother, he beat up one member of a
well-known family of dealers in the Knocknaheeny area.

The man, who lives in the north of the city, has been easing himself out of
republican activity over the past 18 months and has become a significant
player in the Cork drugs scene, dealing in cannabis and ecstasy.

Gardai believe the seized drugs were co-financed by the former IRA man and
three other dealers on the northside, each putting up about £300,000 to buy
the 500kg of cannabis resin at a wholesale price of £1.25m. The former IRA
member is also believed to have owned cannabis worth £400,000 found by
gardai in a wood in east Cork last month.

Gardai say recent seizures are having a significant impact on the cannabis
trade and have forced the wholesale price for a kilo up from £1,800 to
£3,000.