Gardaí stopped a car near Rathcoole, County Dublin, at about 2pm on Monday 31 July 2006 and found 350 kilograms of cannabis resin inside.[1][2] The seizure followed a tip-off and involved the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Garda National Support Services and Garda Headquarters.[1] Gardaí valued the resin at about €2.5 million.[1][3]
Three men aged 39, 38 and 21 arrested in the car were taken to Clondalkin Garda station under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996.[1][2] In follow-up searches of six houses in Cabra and Finglas, two more men aged 25 and 28 were arrested and held at Ballyfermot station.[3][2] Senior Garda sources called the five arrests highly significant.[3]
The three car occupants appeared in court on 3 August in connection with the seizure.[2] The investigation, called Operation Oak, targeted a Finglas man described as one of the biggest drug dealers in the State; he was not among those held.[3] Operation Oak had been intensified after the May murder in Raheny of money launderer turned drug dealer Patrick Harte.[3]