NINE PEOPLE WILL appear in court today after 10 others previously appeared in court following an extensive anti-drug operation by gardaí in Wicklow and the south-east.

Operation Tara, led by the Wicklow Divisional Drugs Unit, and supported by local plain-clothes gardaí searched 26 locations in the county over four days between 30 November and 3 December.

The operation targeted the sale and supply of drugs in a number of towns including Bray, Wicklow, Arklow and Greystones. 

As a result of those searches, gardaí have charged a total of 19 persons with 12 youths also referred to the Garda Youth Diversion Programme.

Ten persons have already appeared before Bray and Arklow District Courts with nine others set to be charged with drugs offences at Bray District Court today.

Gardaí say that Operation Tara was focused on dismantling drug trafficking networks “at all levels” including importation, distribution, cultivation, production and local sale.