Cocaine with an estimated value of €4.2 million has been seized in Co Cork and three people have been arrested.
The 60kg haul was uncovered early on Saturday after a surveillance operation was put in place involving Revenue Customs officers and members of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
The consignment of the drug had arrived into the State in a freight container through Ringaskiddy Port. The drugs are to be taken away for further examination.
The three men arrested are suspected of being part of a group that collected the drugs from the port and were in the process of transporting them out of the Cork area, likely to Dublin.
The men - two aged in their 20s and one in his 30s - were being held on Saturday at garda stations in Cork under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 at garda Stations in the Cork region.
High demand
It is the latest in a series of very large consignments of cocaine to be found in the State, with Garda sources saying that as the economy booms at a time of full employment demand for the drug remains very high.
A €3.85 million seizure of the drug was made at Ringaskiddy in April.
[ Ireland is awash with cocaine, but how does it get into the country?Opens in new window ]
Cocaine valued at €9 million was found at Rosslare Europort, Co Wexford last Wednesday. That followed on from some €11.4 million worth of the drug being discovered while being smuggled into the port on July 13th. A €2.4 million consignment of the drug was found at the same location on March 18th.
Some 69kg of cocaine valued at €4 million washed up in packages on the north Donegal coastline on July 19th. On July 15th, a consignment of cocaine valued at €2 million was found during a Garda operation in counties Kildare and Westmeath. On February 14th, gardaí in Dublin seized cocaine valued at €2.8 million in an operation in Ballyfermot and Blanchardstown.
