Almost €45million worth of drugs were seized by Revenue in August.
While in the last 10 days, five people arriving at Dublin Airport were arrested for smuggling ingested cocaine.
So far, around €170 million worth of drugs have been seized in 2024.
That's more than double the value seized during the same period in 2023.
This comes as Revenue announces its officers seized a tenth of this year's drugs in August using detector dogs, x-ray scanners and international intelligence to catch smugglers.
In recent days, over €3 million worth of cannabis and cocaine was seized at Dublin Airport resulting in nine arrests.
Michael Gilligan, Head of Customs in Revenue’s Dublin Airport Branch, says the health and safety of passengers carrying drugs is "paramount" to investigating a seizure.
"Generally speaking, on average, you are talking about an individual consealing internally up to 100 pellets.
"Now, that obviously all has to come out and I don't know why someone would want to sniff it."
In the last 10 days, five people arriving at Dublin Airport were arrested for smuggling ingested cocaine.
Superintendent Darren McCarthy from An Garda Síochána says these people are very vulnerable:
"These persons are brought to hospital. Particularly the persons that have ingested or are internally carrying the pellets of cocaine within them.
258 cocaine pellets that were seized recently had been ingested by passengers travelling through Dublin Airport, from flights originating in Brazil and Thailand.
Recent Seizure
On Wednesday, 04/09/2024, Revenue seized cocaine and herbal cannabis worth over €1.57 million at Dublin Airport.
As a result of three separate intelligence-led operations, Revenue officers at Dublin Airport seized 1.3 kgs of cocaine and over 74 kgs of herbal cannabis with a combined estimated value of €1,572,600.
The illicit cocaine, with an estimated value of €91,000, was discovered when Revenue officers stopped and searched a passenger who had disembarked a flight from Lisbon originating in Brazil.
A man in his 30s was arrested by An Garda Síochána, subsequently charged and appeared before the courts yesterday.
Separately and also on Wednesday in two standalone operations, Revenue officers at Dublin Airport seized over 74kgs of herbal cannabis with an estimated value of €1,481,600 when two passengers disembarked flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively, with both flights originating in Thailand.
In both cases, approximately 37kgs of herbal cannabis, with an estimated value of €740,800 each, was discovered in vacuum-packed packages within the baggage of the passenger.
A man in his 40s and woman in her 20s were arrested, charged and have since been before the courts.
Investigations into all of these seizures are ongoing.
Reporting by Bella Binn
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