A man has been arrested after €10.6 million worth of cocaine was found in a lorry in County Kilkenny yesterday.
Gardaí discovered 152kg of the drug in a “sophisticated vehicle concealment” after the HGV was stopped on the M9 shortly after 10am.
The lorry had to be brought to Dublin Port because the drugs were hidden so deeply in it.
They were discovered behind a refrigerated unit after customs officers used a specialised X-ray machine.
Searches were also carried out at two business premises and a residential address in Waterford.
The man (60) is being held at a garda station in the Eastern region.
He is reported to be a major figure in organised crime in the southeast with links to Dublin and South American drugs gangs and has been a target of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau for some time.
Gardaí from the GNDOCB and Waterford Drug and Crime Units carried out the searches as part of Operation Tara.
Revenue Customs Service, the Garda Dog Unit and the Stolen Motor Vehicle Investigation Unit also assisted in the operation.
Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis of the Organised and Serious Crime unit said that the seizure was a “further example of An Garda Síochána’s commitment to target the enablers and facilitators of organised crime.”
