GARDAÍ HAVE ARRESTED five people and seized €230,000 worth of drugs in three counties.

As part of Operation Minstrel, an intelligence-led operation targeting drug trafficking activities by organised criminals, gardaí attached to the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, assisted by Anglesea Street Divisional Drugs Unit, Cork and uniformed gardaí from Naas and Portlaoise, seized cannabis herb with an estimated value of €100,000, cocaine, ecstasy and MDMA with a combined total of €85,000 and amphetamine valued at €45,000, pending analysis.

Five people were arrested, four men and a woman.

The seizures began this afternoon when Gardaí stopped and searched a car on the M8 motorway close to Portlaoise. Five kilos of cannabis herb, with an estimated value of €100,000, was discovered and seized.

One man, aged 35, was arrested at the scene. He was detained at Portlaoise Garda Station under Section 2 Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 and charged in connection with the investigation. He is due to appear before Carlow District Court tomorrow morning.

Garda Press Office Garda Press Office

Follow-up searches were carried out in counties Kildare and Cork. A planned search of a premises was carried out in Caragh, Naas, where three kilos of amphetamine and an amount of cash was seized. Two men, 51 and 29, were arrested and are currently detained under Section 2 Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 at Naas Garda Station.

Gardaí also searched a house and a van in Glounthaune Village, Cork and recovered cocaine, 1,500 ecstasy tablets and MDMA with a combined total of €85,000. A man, 32, and a woman, 29, were arrested at the scene. They were both detained at Mayfield Garda Station under Section 2 Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.

The woman was released from Garda custody without charge. A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. The man was charged in connection with the investigation and is due to appear before Cork District Court tomorrow morning.

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