FOUR men have been arrested following the seizure of €8.5m worth of cannabis in south Dublin.
The drugs, weighing 429kg, were found during a search of business premises in the Ballymount area of the city.
The search followed the interception of two vehicles in the area just after 3pm on Friday.
The four men — aged 31, 45, 52 and 58 — were arrested for offences of facilitating and enhancing a criminal organisation to commit drug trafficking offences.
They are being held at garda stations in the Dublin region.
“This operation is another example of our commitment to target the enablers and facilitators of global drug trafficking networks and our ongoing efforts to make Ireland a difficult environment for them to operate in,” said Garda Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly.
Tablets
Also on Friday, gardaí seized almost €2m of illegal tablets following a number of searches in Dublin.
A search of a car in the south of the city uncovered more than 10,000 Zopiclone and Alprazolam tablets valued at €20,000.
A number of planned searches of premises were then carried out across the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR).
At a business premises in south Dublin, garda recovered approximately 965,000 Zopiclone and Alprazolam tablets valued at aroung €1.93m.
A further search of a premises in the city centre recovered more than 13,000 Zopiclone and Alprazolam tablets valued at more than €26,000.
Two further searches in DMR West and South recovered approximately €4,500 in cash and evidence relating to the trafficking of drugs across the DMR.
The total value of the drugs recovered was €1,976,000.
Two men, aged in their 50s and 30s, have been arrested and are currently being held at separate garda stations in the city under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.
Chief Superintendent Patrick McMenamin stated: “This investigation has disrupted a major supply line of drugs into the city centre, and demonstrates An Garda Síochána’s commitment to keeping people safe and disrupting the criminal activities of those who cause harm and inflict misery in our communities.”