Two arrested after €120,000 worth of cannabis seized in Co Wexford
The operation led by Revenue's Customs Service, Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, and the Enniscorthy Drugs and Crime Units seized 6kg of herbal cannabis with an estimated value of €120,000.
The drugs were recovered during a search of a residential property.
In a follow-up search, gardaí discovered a further 1.5kg of herbal cannabis valued at €30,000, along with approximately 250 grams of suspected cocaine (subject to forensic analysis), with an estimated value of €17,500.
The two men are being detained at a Garda station in the south east of the country under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sunday World
a day ago
- Sunday World
Gardai target high-level Irish mobs after combing five years of EncroChat data
The revelation was made by Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland, who is the head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), in an interview with the Sunday World. Left, Robert Noctor allegedly supplied criminals with encrypted phones; Kinahan cartel mobsters Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh and Liam Byrne were jailed after their plans on EncroChat were intercepted Gardaí are pursuing a number of investigations against 'high-level targets in Ireland' as part of the 2020 EncroChat takedown by French law enforcement, it has emerged. The revelation was made by Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland, who is the head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), in an interview with the Sunday World. It is understood that many Irish criminals used the EncroChat encrypted platform, which was hacked by French police who worked with their British and Dutch counterparts for over two months. By compromising the network, police could watch all messages, images, and videos that were sent over the system – all unknown to the criminals between early April 2020 and June 13 of that year. All this data was saved and has resulted in thousands of organised crime prosecutions worldwide to date, with the 'hope' that prosecutions can now happen here in Ireland. An EncroChat phone looked like any other phone, but there was a second display that could be accessed by a few button clicks that brought the user into the EncroChat system. Before the hack, police had no way of accessing the information on the phones More than 32,000 EncroChat phones had accepted the 'capture tool' or 'booby trap' sent out through the computer servers that French police had taken over. Until the French authorities successfully hacked the system, police had no way of accessing the information on the phones. While gardaí were not included in the initial and highly significant EncroChat investigation, Det Chief Supt Boland said gardaí have now been 'officially and legally' given the relevant data from the hack on Irish criminals that disrupted organised crime across the globe. Left, Robert Noctor allegedly supplied criminals with encrypted phones; Kinahan cartel mobsters Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh and Liam Byrne were jailed after their plans on EncroChat were intercepted News in 90 Seconds - August 16th 'From an investigators' perspective here in the DOCB, we are pursuing a number of investigations at the moment where we would hope to use data that was recovered from the EncroChat takedown in a criminal prosecution,' he said. Gardaí have previously been reluctant to discuss their plans in relation to the EncroChat takedown, as opposed to their involvement in infiltrating the separate Ghost encrypted platform last September, in which the west Dublin 'Family' gang were one of the main targets. Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland said the EncroChat data is being examined. Photo: Collins Last March, 12 arrests were made here, including leaders in 'The Family' gang, and Spain as part of that investigation. While Det Chief Supt Boland said more arrests are expected as part of the Ghost probe, a huge amount of data from EncroChat is now being analysed over five years after the platform was first compromised by police and then disbanded. 'We are pursuing a number of those investigations at the moment – we as investigators were not involved in it (EncroChat),' he said. 'We are gathering the necessary evidential requirements in an effort to use the data because I think that would be extremely important. But the investigators in DOCB were not involved in that investigation when it was live and ongoing. 'We are looking at that data, we are considering it and gathering it in the legal capacity so that we hopefully use it in criminal prosecutions in Ireland. We would hope to have some very significant successes.' However, Det Chief Supt Boland also said it 'will not be easy' and 'quite complex' because of different legal systems within European countries, but expressed confidence in DOCB investigators who are compiling the investigation files in relation to EncroChat and Ireland. Senior Kinahan cartel gangsters Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh and Liam Byrne were given jail sentences in England last year for a bizarre firearms plot that English police became aware of after the criminals discussed plans on EncroChat. Officers found more than €93,000 in a Brown Thomas bag in the boot of his Toyota Yaris And gardaí have identified a Dublin barman who allegedly became a key player in supplying gangsters with encrypted phones in Ireland and France. Robert Noctor, with an address in Clontarf, fled Ireland after being caught with a stash of cash and EncroChat devices used by organised crime gangs across Europe, according to recent evidence put before the High Court in a Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) case. Noctor hasn't returned to Ireland since he was stopped by gardaí in Artane in January 2020. Officers found more than €93,000 in a Brown Thomas bag in the boot of his Toyota Yaris, as well as three BQ Aquarius mobile phones that CAB said were EncroChat devices. He told gardaí that he sold the EncroChat phones for €1,000 each and top-ups every six months for €1,500 before the devices and cash were seized from him – three months before the system was compromised by French police. It then emerged that Noctor had allegedly been selling the handsets in France, according to court documents there. The cash and the three Encrochat-enabled phones were deemed the proceeds of crime.
Sunday World
2 days ago
- Sunday World
Donegal man (30s) to stand trial for alleged rape of woman
The man, who cannot be named at this stage of proceedings, appeared before Judge Ciaran Liddy at Letterkenny District Court A Donegal man in his 30s is to stand trial for allegedly raping a woman. The man, who cannot be named at this stage of proceedings, appeared before Judge Ciaran Liddy at Letterkenny District Court. He is charged with the alleged rape of a female on a date in September, 2023 at an unknown location in Co Donegal. . News in 90 Seconds - August 15th The charge is Contrary to Section 48 Offenses against the person Act, 1861 and section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) Act, 1981 as amended by section 21 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act, 1990. Detective Garda Shaun Paul Barrett gave evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of the accused. The court was told that the Director of Public Prosecution had consented to trial by indictment and that time should be allowed for the preparation of a book of evidence in the case. Solicitor Alison Parke, of PA Dorrian Solicitors, requested legal aid and said her client was a suitable candidate. She also requested counsel in the case. Judge Liddy consented to the request and adjourned the case until November 10th next. Gardai said they had no objection to bail. Bail conditions included that the accused reside at a named address and that he had no contact either directly or indirectly with the alleged injured party or any witness in the case.
Sunday World
2 days ago
- Sunday World
Head of Garda Organised Crime Bureau reveals why ‘top-tier' crime gangs have put away their guns
'BAD FOR BUSINESS' | Head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau welcomes significant drop in gang violence, but says organised crime has not gone away Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland said the GNDOCB's central strategy is to 'disrupt, dismantle, prosecute' organised crime gangs Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland said 22 'top-tier' gangs are operating in Ireland, but there have been no gangland gun murders this year so far. Gardaí have also not been involved in foiling any murder plots, known as 'life-saving interventions', so far this year, and the bureau has seized just one firearm since January 1. This is 'an indication of how quiet the higher end of violence in organised crime is now', Mr Boland told the Sunday World , adding that the bureau has engaged in a total of 83 life-saving interventions since 2016. Of that figure, there were three last year and none in 2023. In 2016, there were 20 such operations; 26 in 2017; and 13 in 2018 as the Hutch-Kinahan feud threatened to spiral out of control. There were 14 in 2019 before the need for these 'intense' special operations lessened from that year onwards, which Mr Boland said is an indication of a decrease of murders and attacks at the highest levels of organised crime. Mr Boland, who is in charge of over 100 detectives, said it is 'bad for business' for criminal gangs to be engaged in gun crime, and they have finally realised this. He said the decrease is also a result of his bureau's strategy of targeting 'the people who were willing to pull the triggers'. 'A lot of people are serving lengthy sentences in our prison system for specific crimes, but they are without doubt responsible for multiple other violent crimes over the previous two decades,' Mr Boland said. Mr Boland said €82m in drugs has been seized so far this year, most of it cocaine Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland said the GNDOCB's central strategy is to 'disrupt, dismantle, prosecute' organised crime gangs News in 90 Seconds - August 15th He added that gardaí have used intense and proactive investigations to take the majority of these criminals off the streets. 'Ireland is unique across Europe in that violent high-level crime is increasing in European countries, but the opposite is the experience here to date [this year]. That can change overnight and that is the challenge.' Mr Boland also revealed that €82m in drugs has been seized by the bureau so far this year, most of it cocaine, along with just over €1.4m in cash. He said 20 firearms were seized by the bureau last year, but 18 were linked to the investigation into Newry man Mark McCourt (34), who was arrested by GNDOCB officers in Co Louth in July last year. Mark McCourt and the seized weapons The Special Criminal Court heard last month that McCourt was the leader of an organised crime group supplying guns, ammunition and pipe bombs to other gangs north and south of the Border. 'If you go back to the height of the [Hutch-Kinahan] feud, 18 firearms were seized by GNDOCB in 2016, and we had 29 in 2017,' Mr Boland said. 'It is an indication of the work we are engaging in – how the higher end of organised groups up to now appeared to have pulled back from the extreme levels of violence they were engaged in.' However, Mr Boland stressed the need for vigilance, and pointed out that 10 years after the bureau began targeting them, the Kinahan crime group remain a target as they have not been fully dismantled. Disrupt, dismantle, prosecute. That is our strategy and we need to be resilient with all these groups When asked whether the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was close to making a decision two years after the bureau submitted a massive, lengthy file on the gang's leadership, who are still based in Dubai, Mr Boland said there was no indication yet of a decision to charge Daniel and Christopher Kinahan and their father Christy Sr. 'Disrupt, dismantle, prosecute. That is our strategy and we need to be resilient with all these groups,' he said. While Mr Boland did not name any of the 22 major organised crime gangs who operate in Ireland, they include outfits such as The Family gang, the Mr Big mob, the Limerick-based Keane gang and the Hutch organised crime gang. These gangs feed off each other and assist each other, he said. They need 'logistic routes' into Ireland, whether it is the postal service, containers and trucks on ferries. 'It is all to do with corruption,' he said. 'They corrupt international truck drivers, they corrupt people who are working in ports and airports and they corrupt crews on bulk tankers.' Christy Kinahan Sr Mr Boland said only three crew members on a large vessel need to know about a drug-smuggling plot, sometimes involving multiple tonnes of cocaine, and can get paid hundreds of thousands of euro for their involvement in each shipment. 'Corruption is a huge factor. We can't identify all these corrupt people on our own,' Mr Boland said. 'We are very dependent on people who are legitimately working in these industries who have great knowledge of who the corrupt actors are, so we engage very closely with these people with our partners in Customs.' He said the bureau is 'well and truly alive' and 'conscious' of the efforts of transnational crime groups' attempts to corrupt people working at ports of entry into Ireland, and cited a successful operation that led to employees at Dublin Airport being convicted of importing cocaine over several years. Mr Boland has spent most of his long career investigating organised crime. He was a sergeant and lead investigator in the drugs unit at Pearse Street garda station when his team were involved in the seizure of over €1.5m of cocaine and ecstasy at a Holiday Inn in Dublin's south inner city in March 2000. This seizure led to a bitter falling-out among once-close associates in what became known as the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud, a bloody gang war claimed 16 lives. Cocaine seizure made by officers of the GNDOCB Reflecting on developments in the 25 years since, Mr Boland said: 'It was a totally different world back then. As a police organisation, we did not have the capabilities and the resilience that we have now to tackle these groups. 'He praised the 'very strong' organised crime legislation dating from 2006, as well as more recent money-laundering legislation, describing it as 'an absolute game-changer for us'. 'When I think back to who were the main organised crime groups in Ireland around that time, and even a few years before that, what we definitely have discovered is that people don't retire from organised crime,' he said. Recalling the Holiday Inn seizure, Mr Boland said that even then, the Kinahan group were ultimately responsible in the background for what was a huge haul at the time. 'One hundred per cent, absolutely – it was all part of that network. Leopards don't change their spots,' he added. Mr Boland stressed the need for proactive, rather than reactive, policing strategies when investigating groups such as the Kinahan cartel, who 'became so powerful in their own minds that they decided who lived or who died, and sometimes this was for some very minor arguments or personal grievances'.
