TWO brothers and the senior figures of a deadly Limerick criminal gang have been arrested by gardai allegedly “cutting-up” €50,000 of heroin at a kitchen table in a house on the Northside of the city this Tuesday night.
Following a planned search as part of Operation Thor, Gardai from Henry Street, together with members of the Regional Support Unit, the Divisional Drugs unit and senior crime detectives, raided a house on the city’s north side estate of St Mary’s Park shortly after 6pm.
There, gardai found the two brothers, both whom have recently been released having served lengthy prison sentences, handling and dividing up a large consignment of heroin at the table.
The two brothers found were arrested at the scene and remain in Garda custody.
The brothers are aged 40 and 43, are to be taken to Henry Street and Mayorstone Garda stations for questioning under the provisions of drug trafficking legislation and can be questioned for seven days.
They both have serious convictions violence, witness intimidation and for threats to kill.
This week’s seizure comes after gardai made a significant dent in the operations of the same Limerick criminal gang just over four weeks ago.
As part of the national anti-crime strategy Operation Thor, Gardai seized quantities of drugs and cash during planned searches last month.
12 separate locations were searched during a planned operation involving Gardai attached to the Limerick Divisional Drugs Squad, Detective and Crime Units, Divisional Traffic Corps, Regional Support Unit and other local units on Saturday November 14. The locations searched included houses, derelict houses and waste lands.
Then, controlled drugs, including cannabis resin, cocaine and benzodiazepine with a combined estimated street value in excess of €80,000, along with €13,000 in cash was seized during the searches.
A number of shotgun cartridges were also recovered at one of the locations.
No arrests were made during that phase of the investigation.
