Revenue customs officers seized more than a tonne of herbal cannabis with a street value of more than €13 million at Dublin Port on the afternoon of 8 August 2007.[1][2] The drugs had arrived in a six-metre container from South Africa about six weeks earlier and were bound for a destination in Dublin.[1]
Officers found the cannabis packed in one-kilo bags inside the hollowed-out sections of six granite lectern stands, with about 170 kg in each stand.[1] The bags were coated in Swarfega, a heavy-duty hand cleaner, to put sniffer dogs off the scent, and the consignment had been singled out by the National Freight Intelligence Unit because South Africa is a known source country for drugs smuggled into Ireland.[1][2]
Customs enforcement officer Sean Brosnan said the find equalled six times the cannabis customs had seized in the previous year.[1] He credited the €3 million mobile X-ray scanner, which had become operational the year before, saying the discovery would not have been made without it because the scanner penetrated the granite and exposed inconsistencies in the consignment.[1][2] The drugs were handed over to gardaí, who opened an investigation, but customs said none of the vessel’s crew were suspected of involvement in the smuggling.[1]