Drugs, cash seized, and 10 arrested in Op Thor

DRUGS and cash were seized and 10 people were arrested in West Cork on Tuesday as part of Operation Thor.

Clonakilty-based Supt Ger O’Mahony told The Southern Star that the gardaí are satisfied with the results of their highly co-ordinated day of action.

‘A significant number of arrests were made, and a large number of crimes were solved,’ the superintendent said.

As part of the day of action, two multi-agency checkpoints were held at Toureen in Ballinhassig and Colomane in Bantry, and a total of 10 arrests were made in relation to recent incidents of assault, theft, possession of drugs, and possession of an offensive weapon.

Gardaí from the divisional drugs unit in West Cork, assisted by the southern region dog unit, also carried out a search at a house in Durrus.

There, they discovered a growhouse with €6,800 worth of cannabis herb and €5,600 worth of cannabis plants on the premises. In a second, unrelated, search, gardaí seized €4,900 of suspected cannabis, as well as €17,200 in cash, at a house in the Ballylickey area. No arrests were made in relation to both drug seizures, but Supt O’Mahony said the gardaí are following a definite line of enquiry.

Of the 10 people who were arrested, four were charged to appear before the courts at a later date; two were released without charge, but a file in their case has been sent to the DPP; two more were brought before the courts; one was dealt with under the juvenile diversion scheme; and one person received an adult caution.

During the checkpoints, there was only one road traffic offence detected and Supt O’Mahony attributed this to ‘an extremely high compliance rate by motorists.’

As part of the multi-agency approach, the superintendent confirmed that social welfare detected three people working while claiming welfare allowances, but he said these would require further investigation.