Pubdate: Thu, 23 Sept 1999 Source: Irish Independent (Ireland) Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd Contact: http://www.independent.ie/ Author: Tom Brady, Security Editor TURK GANG BEHIND POUNDS 1M DRUG HAUL Turkish heroin traffickers were behind a pounds 1m drugs consignment seized by gardai when they stopped a car in Dublin yesterday. The haul of heroin and cocaine was destined for a south city gang based around Crumlin and intended for distribution around the capital. Detectives arrested a 41-year-old Drimnagh man after the seizure and he was being questioned last night at Blanchardstown station under the Criminal Justice Act. Gardai have established that the shipment was purchased in London from a gang of Turks who now control the heroin market in many major British cities. The haul of three kilos of heroin and two kilos of cocaine had been brought into the country recently and detectives set up a surveillance operation on a number of suspects. Senior officers decided to move in yesterday morning and detectives stopped a suspect car at Errigal Road in Drimnagh. They found the drugs concealed in plastic wrappings. Depending on the results of purity tests, the haul is reckoned to have a street value of between pounds 1m and pounds 1.2m. A follow-up search in a house in Drimnagh uncovered evidence to show that it was being used by the gang as a ``clearing house'' to divide up shipments into smaller packages for distribution to street dealers. Three motorcycles, suspected of being used by the gang for distribution, were also seized at the house and taken away for forensic examination. The Crumlin gang also has links to a family-run drugs operation on the west side of the city. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea