Armed Gardaí Raid Six Homes, Recover Firearms and €700K in Narcotics

Officers stormed six addresses across two counties over a weekend, netting automatic weapons, handguns and a sizeable drugs haul. Two suspects in their forties were detained under legislation permitting week-long questioning.

Armed Gardaí Raid Six Homes, Recover Firearms and €700K in Narcotics

Officers stormed six addresses across two counties over a weekend, netting automatic weapons, handguns and a sizeable drugs haul. Two suspects in their forties were detained under legislation permitting week-long questioning.

The weekend blitz centred on properties in Laois and Kildare. Teams from the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau spearheaded the action, drawing backup from the Eastern Region, Dublin Crime Response Team and Emergency Response Unit.

Inside the searched premises, investigators uncovered three rapid-fire weapons plus eight sidearms. Sound suppressors and live rounds were also bagged as evidence. Alongside the arsenal, detectives found stashes of heroin, cocaine and cannabis with a combined resale value estimated above €700,000.

Both detainees were transported to stations in the midlands, where they face interrogation under Section 50 of the 2007 Criminal Justice Act. That provision grants investigators up to a full week to hold suspects linked to gangland activity.

The senior officer overseeing serious and organised crime, Angela Willis, hailed the outcome as a damaging strike against criminal enterprises. She argued that stripping gangs of heavy weaponry and cutting off a major drug pipeline protects ordinary residents and starves illegal operations of revenue.

Willis stressed that tip-offs and data-sharing between Irish units and overseas counterparts had paved the way for the raids. Because trafficking rings routinely span multiple countries, she said, cross-border coordination is indispensable.

The crackdown belongs to Operation Tara, a nationwide offensive against the narcotics trade that kicked off in the summer of 2021. During the first half of July, the force arrested eleven people for gang-related, weapons and drug offences. Confiscations across the republic topped €9 million, including cannabis-infused e-cigarettes and candies apparently aimed at teenagers.

Earlier that same week, Cork saw 83.5 kg of herbal cannabis worth €1.67 million lifted. Lucan yielded €1.93 million of the same product. Searches in the midlands, west and east netted over €2 million in cannabis goods. At Dublin Port, a South American container yielded 23 kg of cocaine valued at €1.6 million, while a separate operation uncovered 73 kg of cannabis herb worth €1.46 million.

Source: TheJournal.ie

Source: TheJournal.ie