Revenue Customs officers at Dublin Port removed more than six tonnes of herbal cannabis from a container that had arrived on the previous Thursday, in what the Irish Times called the largest Irish seizure of herbal cannabis on record.[1] The container had been routed from Bangkok through Singapore and Antwerp, and the freight profiling unit flagged it as high risk before officers searched it.[1]

Hidden behind furniture

The front of the container was packed with concrete garden furniture intended to obstruct examination, according to Brendan Smyth of the Customs and Excise Enforcement Division.[1] Irish Examiner reporting the same day said officers used a labrador sniffer dog named Harvey after routine profiling, and found the cannabis concealed behind heavy concrete benches.[2] Customs put the street value at about €15 million and said laboratory analysis showed a high active-ingredient content of up to 40 per cent.[1]

In a follow-up operation, a 42-year-old Dutch man was arrested and detained under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act at Killarney Garda station.[2] The reports name no other arrests at the port itself.[1][2]