A 31-year-old man has been arrested after gardaí discovered more than €800,000 worth of drugs when they stopped and searched a car on the main Cork-Dublin Road on Wednesday.
Officers found cocaine worth an estimated €840,000 when the search was carried out at around 7.30pm close to the Watergrasshill toll plaza on the M8 heading towards Cork.
A Polish national with an address in Co Tipperary was arrested and taken to Gurranebraher Garda station in Cork city to be questioned about the seizure.
He is being held under drug trafficking legislation which allows gardaí to detain suspects for up to seven days before they have to be charged or released.
LA after the fires: Like driving through a post-nuclear suburbia. The scale of destruction is unfathomable
Ireland 27 England 22: Irish player ratings as Jamison Gibson-Park stars
Man receiving palliative care for brain cancer still without power after Storm Éowyn
Miriam Lord’s Week: ‘What hold does Michael Lowry have over them?’ - the question everyone is asking
Garda sources were remaining tight-lipped about the operation, but detectives are understood to believe that the drugs were destined for the Cork market in the run-up to Christmas.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis