Gardaí seize more than €12m of cocaine in County Cork
- Published
Police say the suspected cocaine is worth around €12.04m
More than €12m (£10.4m) worth of suspected cocaine has been seized in County Cork.
The 172kg of suspected class A drugs were found at Ringaskiddy Port on Thursday by Gardaí (Irish police) and revenue officers.
They were in containers that arrived on a vessel from Central America.
The head of revenue and customs national drug investigations said the seizure "will have a significant impact on organised crime" in Ireland.
Mick Gilligan said that "combating the smuggling of controlled drugs such as cocaine into this jurisdiction, in collaboration with An Garda Síochána is a priority for Revenue".
He added that Revenue's customs service "deployed the full suite of our specialist search resources to control this vessel from Central America".
Garda Assistant Commissioner John O'Driscoll said that the operation "demonstrates the potential of collaborative working relationships involving partner agencies, in tackling importation of controlled drugs that harm our communities".
"The Garda Síochána will continue to work with others at a national and international level in targeting the importation and supply of illicit drugs and the organised crime gangs that benefit from such activity."