GARDAÍ ARE CONTINUING to question two men in connection with the seizure of €32.8 million worth of drugs believed to be crystal meth.
Investigators have now branched out their searches to a third county.
The drugs were found in a shipping container in the Port of Cork last Friday by customs officers – they were working with specialist gardaí who arrested two Irish men who are understood to be from Munster.
Suspicions are that there is a link to the shipment and a South American cartel and were intended to be sent on to Australia.
Detectives from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) backed up by gardaí in Cork and Kerry are leading questioning of the men.
It has now emerged that information gathered in searches in Cork and Kerry led gardaí to another address in Waterford which is allegedly linked to one of the men.
Both men are well known in their communities – one of whom has been well known in business circles in the south of the country.
Sources have said that the container with the drugs concealed inside were shipped into the country by sea, apparently from South America, and then were stored in Cork Port before they were ready to be shipped out of the State and onto Australia.
Australia has a significant methamphetamine problem where the drug, dubbed crystal meth here, is known as ice.
Sources have said that some mystery still surrounds the connections between the Irish operation, the drugs and their intended delivery.
The Kinahan Organised Crime Group has a well documented presence in Australia but so do many of the South American cartels. Suspicions are, given the size of the shipment, that it may have been financed by multiple gangs.
Part of the investigation is to determine who the participants are in the shipment and why is there a connection to the south of Ireland.
A source has explained that it is unusual to see crystal meth being shipped already prepared and that normally it is the chemicals used to manufacture it or a liquid or powder form shipped into Australia.
Sources have also said that no lab was found here where the drugs were being manufactured.
The Australian organised crime scene is a diverse one and different from Ireland – motorcycle gangs, or Bikies, have linked up with South American cartels.
Earlier this month a British national, living in Melbourne, was charged for his alleged part in a smuggling operation of 132 litres of liquid crystal meth concealed in washing detergent bottles.
Drugs are shipped in through a number of routes over the straits between Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia. They are also shipped via aircraft and in container traffic.
This shipment is believed to have been destined for a cargo container ship journey to Australia.
The gardaí are continuing to investigate the circumstances around the giant seizure – the two men can be held for a maximum of seven days before they will be charged or released.
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