Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland of the Garda National Drug and Organised Crime Bureau has reported a considerable surge in the imported cocaine’s wholesale cost in Ireland since the end of the previous year. The wholesale price per kilogram of cocaine has witnessed a jump by approximately one-third since the last October. The Gardaí and Revenue officers’ substantial drug seizures have likely influenced this escalation.
Previously, a kilogram of cocaine was typically priced around €25,000, but it now stands at about €40,000, according to Boland. He clarified that this is not a phenomenon Europe-wide as the cocaine market operates on the ‘supply versus demand’ principle. He stated that prices naturally go up when supplies are constrained or hard to come by.
Boland disclosed that these wholesale level price increases are initially felt in Ireland and don’t always have a direct effect at the retailer or user level, but he remained hopeful that it would affect shortly.
These comments came after several substantial drug seizures made by the Garda National Drug and Organised Crime Bureau and Revenue in recent days. Last Thursday, the seizures comprised around 104kg of cocaine, with an estimated worth of €7.2 million, from Rosslare Europort, Co Wexford, along with a swoop on Saturday containing 783kgs of herbal cannabis and 70kgs of cannabis resin, with a combined value of approximately €16 million. Also, on Tuesday, cocaine valued around €10.5 million was intercepted by Gardai and Revenue officers at Dublin Port.
Boland affirmed that these seizures influence the supply chain and showed great optimism that these confiscated drugs wouldn’t permeate local communities.
The apprehension of these types of contraband, especially when an entry path into the legal territory is revealed, has a powerful effect. Such actions can disrupt, and at times even eliminate, a pathway to the country, leading to significant disruption of the international drug trafficking networks involved, explained Mr Boland.
In the case of two specific arrests, Boland indicated that an array of detentions could happen in jurisdictions beyond Ireland’s borders.
Revenue Commissioner Ruth Kennedy noted that drugs worth over €103 million have been intercepted this year alone, with recent seizures accounting for over €33 million, a substantial figure. Kennedy added that the latest confiscations of cocaine were in “deep hidden compartments”, and the proficiency of Revenue dogs and X-ray scanners was required to discover them. These goods had entered the country as unaccompanied cargo.
On a weekly basis, Boland pinpointed that “ordinary vehicles” across numerous cities and towns within the country are being detained. These vehicles contain “expertly hidden compartments”, some of which are challenging to access, given the hydraulic points of entry. He noted that the sole reason for anyone to possess such a hidden compartment within a vehicle is to aid organised crime activities. Therefore, anyone possessing such a vehicle is deemed to be a collaborator in organised crime.