Gardaí are concerned at the extreme efforts of the Kinahan cartel to hide their criminal enterprise, after an individual described as being “way below the radar” was arrested in connection with a cartel drug-and-gun haul,
The Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau seized a massive quantity of cocaine — confirmed as 20kgs in weight — along with components for semi-automatic weapons and 300 rounds of ammunition.
Gardaí have linked the haul to the Kinahan cartel and it is the latest drugs-and-gun depot seized by officers.
The seizure, on Saturday, was made in a what is described as a small unit, inside a warehouse off the Artane roundabout in north Dublin.
In an intelligence-led operation, the DCOB was accompanied by the elite Emergency Response Unit, with the assistance of local gardaí.
They found 20kgs of cocaine, vacuum-packed, that had a street value of €1.4m, along with 4kg of cannabis resin, with a street value of €100,000. Gardaí don’t know the purity of the cocaine, but do not believe it had been in the country for long, which indicates a high purity.
They also found components for different firearms, mainly for semi-automatic weapons, as well as 300 rounds of ammunition, again for different weapons.
A man, aged in his 40s, was arrested at a separate location and is due in court this morning.
He is said to have been “way below the radar”, in terms of garda intelligence. While not a significant player, he was, sources said, “obviously reliable”.
Sources said the man was effectively a “store keeper”.
Gardaí said the size of the cocaine haul will be a significant blow.
“They are rarely caught with a mother lode of cocaine. They move it on very quickly,” said a source. “They don’t mind losing a cannabis haul, but not cocaine.”
Gardaí said the seizure of firearms components and ammunition highlights the ongoing threat the cartel poses in its war against the Hutch grouping.
“A constant targeting of people is involved in targeting the feud,” said a source. “We have a good handle on it, but it is very resource-intensive, both overt and covert policing”.
He said that the last feud murder was in December, and that was the shooting of Noel Kirwan, in Clondalkin.
“You are never going to stop people being murdered, but they are not able to do it with impunity,” the source said.