GARDAI STOPPING a car speeding through a COVID-19 checkpoint in Dublin were shocked to find €500,000 worth of cocaine hidden in pizza boxes in the vehicle.
Two men and a woman are in custody following the seizure of the drugs along with two firearms which were also found inside the car.
Unarmed Gardaí made the discovery after spotting the vehicle speeding through a checkpoint at Phibsboro Road in south Dublin early this past Tuesday, April 14.
Officers gave chase and eventually caught up with the car after it crashed into a wall at around 4:30am.
They found approximately €500,000 of cocaine – one of the largest drugs finds of the year so far – along with two guns and a small quantity of cannabis herb in the car.
Gardaí seized approximately €500,000 worth of suspected cocaine and two firearms following an incident that occurred on Essex Quay this morning. Three people have been arrested. pic.twitter.com/7g4BckuXTU
— Garda Info (@gardainfo) April 14, 2020
All three occupants, who are said to be aged in their 20s, were arrested at the scene on the south quays of the Liffey near Temple Bar.
Detectives suspect the drugs and firearms were being transported from the Finglas area of Dublin to other criminals in the centre of the city.
"None of these people has major criminal pedigrees or obvious connections to wider criminal groupings," a senior source told The Irish Independent.
"It is clear they were moving this stuff from the northside of the city to a location most likely near where they were caught.”
The three suspects are being questioned at Kevin Street, Kilmainham and Pearse Street Garda stations respectively.
