Southern Correspondent Wednesday, April 6, 2011

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0406/1224294006518.html

GARDAÍ TARGETING the operations of an Irish drug gang operating in continental Europe were last night continuing to question a couple arrested as part of an inquiry into money laundering.

Detectives arrested a number of people in Co Cork over the past few days for questioning about the money-laundering operation after they seized several hundreds of thousands of euro in cash in a series of searches on Saturday afternoon.

A couple in their early 40s, living in the greater Macroom area, were among those arrested and they remained in custody last night at Bandon Garda station as part of the investigation into the drug dealing and money laundering operation.

Gardaí believe the gang is headed by a man in his 40s from Cork city who is now based in Spain, having left Ireland close to a decade ago and who gradually built up a drug-dealing business that supplies cannabis, cocaine, heroin and ecstasy to Ireland and the UK.

The man, who has never had any convictions for drug-dealing offences, comes from what one Garda source described as “a comfortable middle-class background” on the southside of Cork city and has become one of Ireland’s biggest drug suppliers.

The Garda operation against the gang has been planned for several months and began last Saturday when gardaí searched a number of premises and homes and seized jewellery, a small quantity of cannabis and luxury cars as well as hundreds of thousands of euro in cash.

The suspects were arrested under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 and detained under section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, which allows suspects be detained for up a week before being either charged or released.

In the case of the couple still in custody, gardaí went to court on Monday to obtain a 72-hour extension to their detention and they can be held until Thursday, when gardaí will have to again go to court if they wish to detain them for a further 48 hours.

Gardaí also seized a large quantity of documents, including bank statements, and detectives from the Criminal Assets Bureau are helping go through the documents to prove a money trail back to the Irish gang based on the continent.

Saturday’s operation followed an intensive Garda investigation going back several months.