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.
Are you getting the best deal when returning your plastic drinks bottles and cans for a refund?
Rory McIlroy’s wish to be identified as Northern Irish is typical of his generation
Ireland weather: Met Éireann issues status orange weather warning for Co Wicklow
Alison Curtis: ‘On arriving in Ireland I was stumped at how men and women didn’t interact’
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