A South American man has been remanded in custody to appear at Clover Hill District Court in Dublin on Friday after he tried to smuggle €1.5 million of cocaine into the State.
The 29-year-old, who was arrested at Dublin Airport last Friday, admitted to swallowing 80 pellets of cocaine. A substantial amount of the drug was also found in his pockets.
The man was flying from Sao Paulo in Brazil via Amsterdam when he became ill on the aircraft. He was taken to Beaumont Hospital following his arrest, and was declared medically fit for questioning later that night. He was brought to Santry Garda station where he was charged under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act.
In a separate incident a 29-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman were arrested at a house at Riverside Grove, Clonshaugh, on Saturday following a planned search by gardaí.
Cocaine with an estimated street value of €22,000 and a small quantity of cannabis resin were discovered. The two were held at Coolock Garda station but were later released without charge.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Cork released a 30-year-old man who was detained following a drugs seizure in the city on Friday night. Gardaí raided a house in the Gurranebraher area of the city at 8.20 p.m. and discovered cocaine and cannabis resin worth €140,000. The man was arrested at the house but later released without charge.
Police in Northern Ireland seized cannabis resin worth £150,000 (€225,500) in a planned search of a house in the Newtownards area of Co Down. Detectives from the PSNI drugs squad were last night continuing their investigation.
