Brothers held after €2.2m cannabis find in Ballybofey

Two brothers are in Garda custody after a €2.2million drugs haul was seized in the Ballybofey area.

The men, both in their 30s and from Donegal, were arrested following a swoop on Tuesday.

They are being held at Letterkenny Garda Station under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Drug Trafficking Act 1996.

Under the terms of that act, persons suspected of drug trafficking can be detained for up to seven days.

Revenue officers seized approximately 112kgs of herbal cannabis, with an estimated value of €2.2 million, in the operation.

Gardai believe that the siblings - never on the garda radar previously - were working with a cross-border gang and involved in the storage of the drugs.

However, their enterprise was foiled 

The premises at the centre of the raid is located around 5km from Ballybofey and on a road close to the border with County Tyrone.

The operation was  conducted by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), the Donegal Divisional Drugs Unit and Revenue’s Custom Service.

A Revenue spokesperson said: "This seizure is part of Revenue’s ongoing joint investigations involving organised crime groups and the importation, sale and supply of illegal drugs. If businesses, or members of the public, have any information regarding drug smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on phone number 1800 295 295.”

Both An Garda Siochána and the Revenue say that their respective investigations are ongoing.

This is one of the most significant drug finds ever in Donegal.

In July 2023, cocaine weighing a total of around 60kg and with a street value in excess of €4 million was found washed up on two Donegal beaches in large parcels.

In March 2021, detectives found 41kg of cocaine in a van at Kilmacrennan. That stash was said to have been worth an estimated €2.8 million.

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No one has been arrested in connection with either of those finds.