Cops seized cars, cash and designer goods in a series of swoops targeting a drug kingpin on Thursday.
The raids have seriously disrupted a major cocaine, cannabis and money laundering operation in Cork.
The crackdown - spearheaded by the Criminal Assets Bureau - was aimed at a convicted drug dealer from the west Cork area, the Irish Mirror can reveal.
The middle-aged man is suspected of masterminding a series of business fronts to launder dirty money from the drug trade in the south west.
Businesses in Cork and Tipperary offering beauty and tanning treatments were raided in the dawn swoops by CAB officers backed up by the armed Emergency Response Unit, the Garda dog unit and local Cork divisional units.
The haul of assets included two designer Louis Vuitton handbags and a Rolex watch.
Six high-powered cars - a Renault Kadjar, Kia Sportage, Skoda Superb, Range Rover, Hyundai Sant Fe and Volkswagen Passat - were also impounded.
A Garda spokesman confirmed that “€22,500 in cash, a small quantity of suspected cocaine and cannabis herb, mobile phones, financial records and business records were also seized and funds were restrained in four different financial accounts.”
Searches were carried out at 21 separate locations in Cork and one in Tipperary including 11 residential dwellings, four business premises, one hotel room and six professional premises attached to solicitors and accountants.
Two men were arrested during the raids which involved more than 140 Gardai.
One man was arrested on foot of a court bench warrant while the other was held for an earlier suspected drug offence.
A Garda spokesman said: “The CAB investigation centres on an individual involved in the sale and supply of controlled drugs in Cork City and County.
“The individual is linked to a number of businesses in West Cork and it is believed that he is laundering the proceeds of his criminal conduct, namely the supply of controlled drugs through these businesses.
“Today’s search operation emanated from a preliminary investigation conducted by a local trained Divisional Asset Profiler in West Cork, which resulted in the commencement of the CAB investigation and has dealt a significant blow to the drug distribution network in Cork City and Cork County and is an example of the Criminal Assets Bureau working closely with the Garda Division through the Asset Profiler Network.
“In total there were 124 personnel taking part in today’s search operation comprising of the Criminal Assets Bureau, local uninformed Gardai and Detectives, the Garda Emergency Response Unit, the Regional Armed Support Unit and the Dog Unit and Divisional Search Team.”
The man targeted in the raids is a convicted drug dealer from the west Cork region.
He was previously jailed after thousands of texts on his mobile phone were linked to drug deals.
A judge was satisfied that the texts from people looking for “white” (cocaine) and “g” (grass) were to do with the drugs trade.
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