LATEST: Gardaí stop car on M7 and seize €40k worth of drugs

As part of Operation TARA, Gardaí from the Roads Policing Unit at Portlaoise stopped a car on the M7 in Portlaoise on Tuesday. 

Following a search of the car, cannabis herb worth approximately €40,000 was seized.

The driver of the car, a man his 40s, was arrested and taken to a Garda Station in County Laois where he is currently detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996. He can be detained for up to seven days.

All of the drugs seized are subject to analysis. 

The investigation is ongoing and further updates will follow.

Operation Tara is an enhanced national anti-drugs strategy, launched in July 2021.

The focus of Operation Tara is to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute drug trafficking networks, at all levels - international, national, local - involved in the importation, distribution, cultivation, production, local sale and supply of controlled drugs.