The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has congratulated gardai on their weekend seizure of drugs with an estimated street value of between £8 million and £9 million. A 38-year-old Dutch man and a 32-year-old man from Ashbourne, Co Meath, are being questioned by gardai about the seizure of 100kg of amphetamine sulphate and 4kg of cocaine, found in a car stopped at Enfield, Co Meath, at 7 p.m. on Friday.
The drugs arrived in recent days from Holland and are believed to have been on their way to Dublin.
Gardai at Santry Station are also still questioning two 19-year-old women from Manchester who arrived on a flight from Barcelona yesterday morning. They were arrested after officers found 33kg of cannabis in a suitcase.
Both operations stem from joint investigations between the Garda and other EU police forces.
Also at the weekend, gardai in Navan, Co Meath, in a separate operation, arrested two 19-year-old men and seized amphetamines with a value estimated at £10,000.
The Taoiseach described the Enfield seizure as one of the most significant hauls ever in the State. He added: "Their (the Garda) action will deprive the drug barons of further huge profits at the expense of those whose lives are poisoned by the cancer of drug addiction.
"I want to urge the Garda and Customs authorities to maintain their vigilance so as to continue to undermine the promoters of the drug trade who are the purveyors of so much misery and unhappiness in this country."
The two men arrested in connection with the Enfield haul were last night further remanded in Garda custody by a District Court judge in Kells. All those arrested at the weekend can be held for questioning without charge or appearance before a court for up to seven days.