Gardai are pushing back against drug dealers who are using teenagers to deliver their deadly wares.
Runners as young as 13 years old are using electric bikes and scooters to ferry heroin, cocaine and cannabis to Limerick’s addicts.
Business is set up using social media before the young mules are dispatched but gardai are fighting back.
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Superintendent Andrew Lacey, of Roxboro Road Garda station, said drugs are still a problem in Limerick but his team was proactive in their response.
He told The Irish Mirror: "The one significant problem which hasn’t gone away and I think is reflective of all of Ireland is drugs.
"The use of scramblers, e-bikes, and scooters as transportation for the sale and supply of drugs in our own city centre areas is real and problematic. There is a major issue there and it’s a big basis of complaints we get."
Supt Lacey said a new bill governing the use of e-bikes and scooters will help Gardai tackle the problem but declared it is needed urgently.
When asked about the ages of perpetrators, he said: "I would estimate from reviewing incidents and experience over the last two to three months, that it is those in their early teenage years - from about 13 and up."
Speaking about the use of social media apps for drug dealing, Supt Lacey said that causes "challenges".
He explained: "You have to move with the innovations of the times as well. That type of drug policing is all about the seizures and interceptions.
"There’s a bit of luck involved but you have to try and keep up with them in the way that they go about their business. There is a bit of making sure that we’re on par with them."
Meanwhile, Inspector Padraigh Sutton, who is in charge of road policing and major emergency management and events, said nothing surprises him.
He explained: "The thing about working in a large city but particularly Limerick you could see pretty much anything.
"I’ve been here 20 years and I came to Limerick when policing here was really challenging. It is still challenging but not as much as it once was.
"We have an excellent community network with external stakeholders - and together we can achieve great things for the city."
When asked about what particular problems the city has, Insp Sutton said: "We, like any other large city, have a drug problem.
"We have a very targeted approach to drug use and trafficking.
"We have public order issues here but what you have is an excellent police service here and Limerick has a very practical policing set-up.
"People who do get arrested find themselves in court very quickly. We do everything we can to try and promote Limerick to the rest of the country and show what it is really like.
"We also have theft issues in the city centre like any other city but we have dedicated guys and girls on the ground who are there to try and apprehend and prevent crime while also supporting communities.
"We engage with communities and we do everything we can to prevent crime happening before it starts.
"Through proactive engagement with the community, we will continue to target serious criminality, general criminality, and public order offences.
"We will continue to do that 24/7, 365 days a year.
"We won’t give up on that, our primary goal is to keep people safe."
The Irish Mirror spent two days with officers from Henry Street and Roxboro Road stations and witnessed first-hand their dedication to ensuring the city's streets are safe.
This week we shadowed plainclothes officers tackling street crime, the Roads Policing Unit and those from the regular unit patrolling the city centre.
On one occasion, Gardai Patrick O’Sullivan and Jason Walmsley noticed two men travelling on an electric bike near People’s Park in the city.
The plainclothes officers successfully apprehended the passenger who was arrested on suspicion of sale and supply after an estimated €200 worth of cannabis was found.
The driver managed to flee but cops seized the electric bike.
The officers were attached to Operation Croi which was set up to combat theft from shops, public order, sale and supply of controlled drugs and antisocial behaviour.
Later that day they also attempted to make another arrest linked to a separate drugs inquiry but the suspect wasn’t home.
That evening, we joined cops from the regular unit and patrolled the city centre streets with Gardai Brain Delaney and Wes McCarthy.
While driving Gda Delaney noticed a man walking on Island Road who was wanted in connection with a robbery at an electronics store.
He turned the patrol car around and apprehended the suspect, who was in his 50s.
It later emerged the man was wanted in connection with at least seven different robberies in stores across the city.
We then headed towards McLaughlin Road where a bus passenger was viciously assaulted by a man and a woman - but the victim decided he didn’t want to make a statement to Gardai.
Later in the evening, officers became suspicious of a man who was walking up and down O’Connell Street.
They approached him and he became aggressive. He was then arrested and brought back to Henry Street for a drug search.
Shortly after midnight, a man in his 50s was arrested for a public order offence but attempted to flee after officers tried to cuff him.
After a brief struggle, Gda Delaney and Gda McCarthy brought the situation under control and he was transported back to the station.
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