Gardaí seize €21,000 worth of cocaine during traffic stop

Gardaí have seized a suspected €21,000 worth of cocaine following a routine traffic stop in Bushypark yesterday evening.

At around 7pm yesterday (Monday), members of the Roads Policing Unit in Galway stopped the car.

There were two men in the car and the passenger, a man in his early 20s, got out of the car and fled on foot. He was seen placing a white package into a gap in a wall.

The package was recovered and is believed to contain approximately €21,000 worth of cocaine, pending analysis.

The driver of the car, a man in his late 30s was given a roadside test which indicated the presence of opiates and cannabis. A further sample has been sent for analysis.

Both men were arrested and detained at the North Western Regional Headquarters in Murrough under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.

The man in his 20s has been released without charge, and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. The man in his 30s remains in custody this morning.

Members of the Galway Drugs Unit conducted a follow-up search arising from this matter but nothing was detected.