ARDAI WORRY OVER LEVEL OF ECSTASY ABUSE

GARDAI are worried teenagers are taking as many as five ecstasy tablets on
a typical night out.

"This is the pattern and it's very worrying given that these drugs are
killers," said drugs squad Det Sgt John Heelan after gardaí in Limerick
seized drugs supplying areas from the south to the midlands.

Illegal substances with a street value of 634,000 Euros were seized in
Limerick City and County Tipperary where a house was raided near Rear Cross
village close to Newport on Wednesday night. The drugs included a large
quantity of cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis.

Ecstasy tablets are selling for between 5 Euros to 7 Euross in the city and
that price can fall to 4 Euros if a number of them are bought together.

A rifle and a semi-automatic handgun were also found in the drugs
operation, following weeks of surveillance by officers from the Clare and
Limerick drug squads.

The first seizures were made in the Hyde Road and O'Connell Avenue area of
the city between the hours of 7pm and 9pm and three people were arrested
during the Garda swoop.

Two men and a woman are still in custody in Henry Street in Limerick where
they are being held under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Drug
Trafficking Act. They can be detained for up to seven days.

The drugs squad at Henry Street Garda Station believes the sophisticated
operation was supplying drugs from Britain to areas in the mid-west, the
south and the midlands.

"Networks of this nature seem to have moved away from Limerick City and are
operating from rural locations," said Det Sgt Heelan said.

Limerick gardaí have made several arrests in the last two years, in an
effort to thwart drugs gangs on the southside of the city.

The ecstasy tablets seized were destined to be sold throughout the country
in the coming weeks.

Small traces of a white powder substance are also being examined to see if
it's heroin.

Cannabis remains the most widely sold illegal drug in Limerick.

The slabs of cocaine recovered by gardaí were very pure and were set to be
broken down into small portions and sold on the streets this weekend. The
ecstasy tablets recovered have heightened Garda worries that teenagers are
taking as many a six ecstasy tablets on a night out.

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