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Irish Go Dutch

01 March 1996

In an operation which has parallels with the "controlled deliveries" recently investigated by the van Traa commission into police involvement in drugs trafficking in the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland's Garda Siochana appear to have been involved in importing 13 tonnes of cannabis into the state, worth in the region of ?130m. The operation took place in West Cork last November. At the time, it was claimed that Gardai had discovered the drugs in a container truck at Urlingford on the Kilkenny/Tipperary border, after keeping the shipment under close surveillance. The Irish Times has revealed, however, that the truth maybe more embarrassing. Armed Gardai detectives did more than mount a surveillance operation. They actively assisted in the shipment of the drugs, it is alleged. According to a police source, the operation "was like something out of Apocalypse Now". The detectives went out to sea on a trawler to meet up with a large ship. "The big vessel was all lit up with music booming from it. There were men with balaclavas on the decks with sub-machine guns." The cannabis was loaded onto the trawler which headed back to Castletownbere. It was then transferred to the lorry which took the drugs to Urlingford. The problem was that no-one came to pick up the drugs. A Garda statement attacked the media for "irresponsible reporting", claiming that the international investigation had been seriously damaged and that lives were now at risk. Irish Times, 11.3.96.