War on drugs! Garda battle against drugs yields spectacular results in Tipperary
Almost €370,000 taken off Tipperary streets in first five months of the year
The battle against drugs in Tipperary has yielded spectacular results in the first five months of the year, The Nationalist can reveal.
Almost €370,000 worth of drugs have been taken off the streets after a significant increase in resources in the Tipperary divisional drugs squad back in January.
The seizure of €25,000 worth of drugs in Carrick-on -Suir on Sunday night was the latest in a series of major drug hauls.
A Parliamentary Question by Sinn Féin TD, Martin Browne, to Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, on drug seizures in the county this year has revealed there were 315 seizures across the county in a five month drugs blitz by gardaí.
The war on drugs saw €56,000 worth of illegal substances seized in Tipperary Town, as well as € 40,000 seized in Mullinahone and €13,000 in Fethard in recent months.
Chief Superintendent of the Tipperary Garda Division, Derek Smart, paid tribute to the garda members who were putting in a huge amount of work to tackle the drugs problems facing communities throughout Tipperary.
He said: “They are all putting in an incredible amount of work.
“We are building solid cases and we want to hold people accountable. We know that every community is behind us and I would appeal to people living in those communities to continue to assist us in our fight against drugs.”
RESOURCES
The high level of seizures comes following a decision to more than double the resources in the divisional drugs squad.
In January, the one sergeant and five gardaí in the unit was increased to two sergeants and fourteen gardaí.
Chief Supt Smart said he was not surprised by the value of drugs seized so far this year and the spread of seizures throughout the county.
“Everybody knows that drugs are a major issue in our society. We took a decision to provide the resources and to back up specific roles. The implementation of that decision and the hard work by all involved in the squad has made that high level of seizures possible,” he said.
“The decision had to be made. In the Clonmel area, Superintendent William Leahy had made a very powerful case to put more resources into the drug squad because he saw that the need was there and members were seeing the devastating impact drugs were having in the community on a daily basis,” the Chief Supt added.
Asked if he could give assurances that the extra resources allocated to the divisional drug squad in January would remain in place, he said: “I have no intention of taking them out of it.”
Chief Supt Smart said the drugs issue and the need for more resources was always raised in consultations with ministers, TDs, elected representatives and was brought up consistently at the meetings of the Joint Policing Committee.
He said: “We took the decision. We are delighted with the results.
“The gardaí would not be able to deal with these problems on our own.
“We need the support of the JPCs, elected representatives, the other agencies and communities to take it on.
“In January we reacted to what was coming back to us from the communities and we made the decision to put more resources into the divisional drugs squad.”
When that decision was taken at the start of the year there was concern in the Clonmel area that the diversion of resources to the drugs squad resulted in the loss of the highly valued Clonmel Community Policing unit.
In the Clonmel area, which includes Carrick-on -Suir, Mullinahone and Fethard, the diversion of resources into the drugs squad paid dividends.
Compared to the same five month period of the previous year, there was a significant increase in drug seizures.
Last year (between January and May), there were twenty sale and supply detections compared to thirty one in the five month period this year.
The number of personal use detections in that period of time rose from 80 to 118.
“If anybody is suspicious about any kind of activity in their housing estates, in their neighbourhood or anywhere else we are asking them to call us in confidence at 052 6177640,” said Superintendent William Leahy of Clonmel.