GARDAI BUST GARDEN CENTRE DRUG RING ('Pot' is smuggled beneath plants)

GARDAI have weeded out a multimillion pound drug pushing operation
based in a garden centre near Dublin.

The drug gang, which had been under surveillance for several days, had
been smuggling the drugs in by planting them in pots.

When detectives from the National Drugs unit raided the premises in
Tallaght last night they recovered 30 kilos of cannabis resin with a street
value of IR3m and arrested five men.

Three of them were working in a shed and the other two were in a car
which arrived at the premises.

The drugs were hidden in tightlysealed slabs at the bottom of tubs
containing 4ft high plants.

Gardai said the plants had been imported from the Netherlands for the
bogus garden centre business.

They believe that the gang had been involved in drug smuggling for a
considerable time and were one of the major suppliers to the Dublin
market.

The five men are being held under the Drug Trafficking Act,which
empowers the gardai to detain them for up to seven days.

Last night's haul was the second major drugs seizure by the gardai in the
Dublin area within a week.

Last Friday they made a record seizure of amphetamines and cocaine
valued at IR £8m when they stopped a car on the outskirts of the city
near Enfield.

These seizures follow the results of an EU survey which found the use of
illegal drugs by young people in the Republic was among the highest in
Europe.

It found that four out of 10 schoolgoing teenagers admitted to having
used cannabis, twice the average in other EU countries.