Man (42) arrested amid crackdown on drones delivering drugs to prisons

Gardaí have arrested a man over the supply of drugs into prisons.

Officers seized €180,000 in cash, a designer watch valued at €10,000 and several mobile phones following a search of a home in west Dublin on Friday.

A 42-year-old man was arrested at the scene. He remained in custody on Saturday.

The operation comes after a previous seizure of a drone and a quantity of diamorphine intended for delivery into a west Dublin prison on February 12th.

Gardaí said that both incidents are part of a local initiative under Operation Tara, targeting the supply of drugs into Wheatfield and Cloverhill Prisons.

In a statement, the Irish Prison Service said preventing the access of contraband into prisons continues to be a high priority.

“The Irish Prison Service has committed to continuing to invest in new technologies and measures to support our efforts to keep contraband out of prisons. Prison staff have increased the use of random and intelligence led cell searches on a daily basis. Our Canine Unit carry out searches around the prisons, including a greater focus on searching deliveries into prisons,” it said.

“The Irish Prison Service continues to engage with An Garda Síochána with regard to preventing contraband entering our prison and this happens at both local and national level. The Operational Support Group work closely with their colleagues in An Garda Síochána on a regular basis and the sharing of intelligence has led to target searches resulting in the seizure of contraband.”