A massive 120kg of cocaine, thought to be worth €8.4 million, have been seized in a garda operation - along with a plane.
Officers in the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, supported by other national units, intercepted two vehicles shortly after 6pm on Thursday at two locations in the Lough Owel area of Co Westmeath.
In the course of this operation, 120 kilogrammes of cocaine with an estimated street value of €8.4 million was recovered along with several communications devices.
Follow-up searches were then carried out at residential premises in Naas, Co Kildare and Waterford city and at a commercial airfield in Co Longford, where a light aircraft was seized.
Two men, age 54 and 40 years, were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking. They are detained at Ashbourne Garda Station.
Following the operation, Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly, the Head of Organised and Serious Crime, said: "This operation has prevented a considerable quantity of dangerous drugs from making it onto our streets and causing significant harm to our communities.
"An Garda Síochána is committed, under Operation Tara, to disrupting and dismantling the organised criminal networks who profit from drug trafficking and impact so negatively on our society."
Gardai added in a statement: "Investigations are ongoing."
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