Alarming rise in illegal drug activities in Mayo - But gardaí make substantial confiscations

Tuesday, 17 April 2012 13:21

Written by Tom Gillespie

THE Mayo Divisional Drugs Unit has had a recent run of success in cracking down on illegal drugs activities right across the county.

Swoops by the officers have uncovered stashes of illegal substances in Claremorris, Ballyhaunis, Ballina and Louisburgh.

The level of success is most welcome but indicate the extent of the problem as it grips every town and village.

The drugs scourge is rampant and growing. There is not a court sitting in the region that does not deal with several drugs related prosecutions.

The seriousness of the trafficking was revealed in the stash of cannabis confiscated in one of the Claremorris raids, which was estimated to be worth €30,000, while another was worth €1,500.

A number of suspects have been questioned and files on all the cases are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

One of the frustrating aspects facing the investigating officers is the level of amnesia suffered by the pushers who refuse to reveal the identity of the drug barons who supply them.

This has been highlighted time and time again during the prosecution of cases in the district courts.

In this regard, the judiciary will have to be tougher on those who refuse to reveal their supply sources.

Perhaps legislation needs to be changed or enforced to a higher degree to force those found in possession of illegal drugs to reveal their suppliers. This would give the authorities vital information to catch the bigger fish in the drugs pool.

The drugs blight, once confined to our cities, is now a major rural dilemma and is growing weekly, with drug finds made in isolated locations right across the country.

The level of garda resources has been greatly depleted with the mass retirement of officers last month leaving stations under-staffed and lacking the experience gained over the years by those who have hung up their batons.

Looking at this on a national basis, it places An Garda Síochána with an uphill battle in their drive against organised crime in general.

From recent court reports across the county many non-nationals have been brought up on drugs charges.

This indicates the level of intelligence by investigating officers is extremely good as it must be difficult to keep tabs on these migrants. But there are Irish dealers, too, who are involved in this illegal trade.

Recessionary times present opportunities to drug suppliers to make extra cash but hopefully the diligence and monitoring by the gardaí will continue to uncover these dens of illegality.

Machnamh na Seachtaine

Weekly Reflection

Tar éis a fheictear gach beart.

It is afterwards events are understood.

Comments

0 #2 greg 2012-12-02 23:31

Kick the Polish out, 50% of the drug problem solved overnight

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0 #1 Gerard 2012-07-20 14:39

This seems to be a great career choice these days as the judicary system yet fails again, for instance in this weeks castlebar district court sitting you have a man who's convicted of growing cannabis plants worth 11000 euro and only gets 6 months prison as we all know that means he'll be out in approx number of weeks when this individual has a previous conviction and been previously been jailed. Why are there such low sentenances handed out this is not a deterrant to dealing with drugs, the seneanances need to be dramatically increased to reflect the seriousness of this scourge in our communities.

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