Three arrested after drugs 'sting' operation
Two women and a man were detained today after an undercover sting operation that is believed to have thwarted an international drugs smuggling ring.
One woman - a UK national - was arrested after arriving at Dublin airport last night off a South African flight with a suitcase packed with €200,000 worth of cannabis.
The Scottish woman was allowed to pass through Customs and was followed by undercover detectives to Dublin city centre were she was taken into custody with two other people.
Follow-up searches at a house in Blanchardstown, in the west of the city, turned up €100,000 worth of cocaine and mixing agents.
The 48-year-old Scot, using a South African passport, was tailed after coming off the flight from South Africa via Frankfurt in Germany.
She is suspected of being a courier or "drugs mule" for a gang operating in Dublin.
The two others arrested are a 32-year-old South African woman and a 29-year-old Nigerian man who had addresses in west Dublin and are linked to the gang.
Both were under surveillance for days during the joint operation by Customs officials and the Garda National Drug Unit.
It is believed that the gang were bringing relatively small amounts of drugs into the country often, rather than huge shipments, according to a senior Garda source.
The 20 kilos (44lb) of herbal cannabis that was packed into the suitcase, and 1.5 kilos (3.3lb) of cocaine will be sent to the forensic experts at the Garda Technical Bureau for tests.
The three arrested are being detained at Store Street Garda Station in central Dublin under section 2 of the Drugs Trafficking Act.
