POLICE IN PERU have arrested an Irish citizen and seized 55 kilos of alleged cocaine.

The man, who is in his 40s, was detained with a Bulgarian and British national. A search of a car at La Molina in the Peruvian capital Lima showed police discovering the alleged drugs in the boot of the car inside suitcases. 

The story emerged from a video circulating on youtube in which a news television show called Panorama showed the operation to detain the men. 

The television investigation interviewed police officers and states that the men were under surveillance by police from a specialist anti-narcotics unit since entering the country via Jorge Chavez Airport on 21 June.   

The television investigation shows extensive video footage from the police operation including from surveillance operatives which showed the men welcoming each other at the airport.

The scene from the search shows the man identified as the Irish national collapsing to the ground as police opened the packages on the road side. 

The police stated that the men were allegedly linked to a criminal organisation which was going to ship the cocaine back to Ireland and the UK via Dublin and London. 

The Irish man and the British national have been held in custody for 18 months “preventative detention” meaning to prevent leaving Peru. 

In a recent report on the Peruvian drugs trade the US Department of State said that the South American country is the second largest producer of cocaine and cultivator of coca.

It also found that the majority of that cocaine is transported across South America for “domestic consumption” but that it is also being shipped to Europe, the US, East Asia and Mexico. 

Sources have said that there is an extensive web of contacts between Irish organised crime groups and South America.

To combat that flow of drugs greater intelligence liaisons have been made between European countries such as Ireland and countries in the Americas. 

A number of people are before Irish courts at present in relation to drug shipments from South America.

In 2013 Irish woman Michaella McCollum, 20, and British national Melissa Reid, 20, were arrested in an attempted drug smuggling operation.

The pair were arrested after 11.5kg of cocaine was found hidden in food packets in their luggage.

McCollum from Dungannon, Co Tyrone and Reid from Glasgow, had been working in Ibiza before taking up the smuggling job.