Ireland Crime

Reports the sentencing of two men at Mullingar Circuit Court for the Laois garage cocaine seizure, with details of the evidence, guilty pleas, sentences and the destruction order.

Reports guilty pleas entered at Portlaoise Circuit Court, the forfeiture agreement on €20,000, and the remand in custody. No existing case matched this incident.

Adds the bail hearing: Judge John Brennan refused bail for both men and reserved the legal aid issue. Both were remanded to Cloverhill Prison. Gardaí argued the defendant would flee the jurisdiction. Gives the total seizure as 199kg of cocaine and 4kg of cannabis, valued at €14,010,000.

Reports the men's first court appearance at Portlaoise District Court, the charges against each man, the refusal of bail and the remand in custody to February 13.

Details of charges, quantities and values of drugs seized, court proceedings at Portlaoise District Court, and remand to Cloverhill Prison.

Reports that two men aged in their 40s have been charged and will appear before Portlaoise District Court on Thursday 6 February 2025, that a third man was released without charge, and that a file will go to the DPP. No names are given.

Provides Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary's commentary on the operation, details of the gang's method of hiding drugs in vehicle panels, confirmation that three people are in custody as high-ranking gang members, and background on a previous €9.6m seizure from the same gang.

Adds details about eight modified vehicles with secret compartments, the DCRT's specialised role, the gang structure (two Irish brothers), the follow-up search in West Dublin, and the three Polish men's detention under the Drug Trafficking Act.

First report of the seizure; it links the operation to a gang that supplied west Dublin after the Kinahan Organised Crime Group's operation there was dismantled.

Garda press release confirming the west Dublin follow-up search details, total value of over €14m, eight vehicles and drugs paraphernalia seized, and that three men remain in custody under the Drug Trafficking Act.

Adds details of the follow-up search in west Dublin (Rathcoole) where 17kg cocaine, €25,000 cash and eight vehicles were seized, bringing the total estimated drug value to over €14 million. Confirms three men remain in custody under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996, and that the drugs are being analysed by Forensic Science Ireland.

The article body is template code with no story text. The headline gives a €12.8m drugs seizure and three men arrested in Co Laois, which matches case 14694. The value differs from the €14.1m in that case, and no date or location appears in this article.

Reports the arrest of three men and quotes Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary describing the operation as having 'taken down the main supply network for cocaine and crack cocaine into West Dublin' and as 'another significant blow to an organised criminal group'.

Original report of the seizure and arrests. The article's headline refers to the Midlands, but the searches took place in Mountmellick, County Laois.

Initial Garda press release describing the DCRT operation, the seizure of 182kg cocaine and 4kg cannabis valued at over €12.8m, the arrest of three men from eastern Europe, and the identification of the operation as targeting the main supply network for cocaine and crack cocaine into West Dublin.

Original report of the Mountmellick seizure and arrests, published on the evening of 4 February 2025. It names no suspects and gives no ages or nationalities. It is a different incident from the Robbie Flynn case (14202), which concerns a separate Mountmellick possession charge.

First report of the operation. It states that two men were arrested and cocaine was seized, but gives no quantity, names, ages or nationalities.

Initial Garda press release on the operation, reporting three arrests and the full drug seizure; case 2390 covers the subsequent charging of two of the men at Portlaoise District Court.

Garda press release confirming the full details of the seizure, noting eight vehicles and drugs paraphernalia were also taken, the drugs are being analysed by Forensic Science Ireland, and the three arrested men remain in custody at Garda stations in the Eastern Region under the Drug Trafficking Act.

Confirms two men in their 40s charged and due at Portlaoise District Court on 6 February 2025 at 2pm; a third man in his 50s released without charge with a file to be prepared for the DPP; investigations ongoing.