DRUGS with a value of €3 million were seized by gardaí along with an assault rifle and ammunition following a search of a house at Sallins Bridge, Sallins on Saturday evening.
The search of the house was led by gardaí from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau supported by the Special Criminal Task Force who are targeting the notorious Kinahan Gang and their associates. The drugs recovered were heroin and cocaine which have now been sent for analysis. The recovered firearm was an AK 47 assault rifle. The rifle and the ammunition, along with the drugs, are understood to have been concealed in various locations, including within furniture around the house.
No arrests were made following the drugs and firearm seizure in Sallins and gardaí say their investigations are ongoing.
The operation on Saturday night follows a frenetic week of activity in the area during which a Sallins man was arrested and charged along with two others in relation to firearms possession.
Jonathon Harding aged 44 from McNeill Court in Sallins, Declan Brady aged 50, from The Park, Wolstan Abbey, in Celbridge and 33-year-old James Walsh from Neilstown Drive, Clondalkin, appeared before Dublin District Court on Friday afternoon.
The three were charged in connection with the unlawful possession of five revolvers, 20 rounds of ammunition and a silencer at a unit in Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole last Tuesday. The three men made no application for bail and were remanded in custody to appear again before Clover Hill District Court via video link this Wednesday.
Vehicles entering and leaving Sallins and Clane were stopped and searched and drivers were breathalysed during a sustained garda operation in the area over the past week. Gardaí had set up checkpoints on all approach roads to both villages as part of the operation, which also involved the garda helicopter.
Following the operation in Sallins on Saturday night Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said the operation underlined the fact that gardaí are “being relentless and resourceful in tackling the menace of organised crime gangs.”
She said that no one should “underestimate the scale of the challenge” which the gardaí face, adding that the Government will “continue to support fully An Garda Síochána in these efforts.”
