As part of ongoing investigations into organised criminal activity in the mid-western region, gardaí conducted a search operation in Co. Limerick this week.
During the operation on Wednesday, August 28, planned searches were carried out at a residence and farming properties in the Crecora area.
Gardaí recovered €69,000 in cash, €10,000 worth of cannabis, and €18,550 worth of cocaine (pending analysis).
A firearm and silencer were also seized, along with a money counter, cocaine presses, vacuum packers, scales, and mobile phones.
A man in his 40s was arrested at one of the locations and detained under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1996, at a garda station in the Limerick Division.
He has since been released, and a file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The operation was led by the Limerick divisional drugs unit, with assistance from the armed support unit and the divisional search team.
The seized items are undergoing forensic examination, and investigations are ongoing.
Meanewhile, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has seized a “substantial” quantity of land and several out buildings at a number of locations in Co. Leitrim as part of an organised crime investigation.
The seizures were part of an operation which also saw seizures in other counties.
On foot of High Court applications under the Proceeds of Crime Acts, CAB took possession of a range of assets as part of work to dismantle a Co. Longford-based organised crime group involved in the sale and supply of drugs, and “serious feud related activity in Ireland”.
According to Gardaí, substantial land and several out buildings were taken possession of by CAB at three locations in Co. Leitrim.
Apart from that, CAB also carried out two other seizures as part of the same investigation, in Elliston, Co. Kildare and Ardnacassa, Co. Longford.
As part of the Co. Longford seizure, a double-axel Tuffmac trailer was also taken by CAB.
Gardaí said that the property seized will eventually be sold by private treaty or public auction and the proceeds of the sales handed over to the exchequer, along with all other cash and money generated from the sale of goods seized.
In the past 12 months, CAB has sold 24 properties of various types. This is the highest number in a 12 month-period since the bureau was established in 1996.