Gardai struck a major blow against organised crime in the capital last night after making separate drugs and firearms seizures.
At 6.30pm a 36-year-old Clondalkin man was arrested in a green area at Newlands Road in Lucan.
When searched he was found to have two handguns and a small quantity of cocaine.
The suspect, who is from the St Ronan's estate, was arrested and was being questioned at Ronanstown Garda Station today.
The arrested man does not have much in the way of previous convictions and it is believed that he was working for a gang based in the Clondalkin area.
Sources said that gardai are satisfied that he was not on the way to carry out a shooting at the time of his arrest.
It is instead believed that he was transferring the weapons on behalf of the gang.
It is believed that officers may have received a tip-off before they pounced on the suspect.
Gardai are monitoring a number of separate feuds in the Clondalkin and Ronanstown localities and it is understood that the arrested man is linked to one of the feuding gangs.
The second operation was carried out by the garda's Organised Crime Unit and it involved the seizure of €150,000 worth of cannabis in two busts and the arrests of a woman in her 20s and a man in his 30s.
A garda spokesman said: "Cannabis with an estimated street value of €60,000 was seized when gardaí stopped and searched a car on the N7, Clondalkin, yesterday evening.
"A male aged in his 30s was arrested at the scene and detained at Clondalkin Garda Station.
"Later, during a follow-up operation, cannabis with an estimated street value of €90,000 was seized at a house in Baldoyle. A female aged in her 20s was arrested at the scene and detained at Coolock Garda Station.
"Both remain in Garda custody this morning at Clondalkin and Coolock Garda Stations. They can be detained for up to seven days."
Surveillance
It is understood that the drugs seizure happened after a detailed surveillance operation and investigations were still being carried out today.
Meanwhile, gardai have also disclosed that in Co Donegal, officers from Milford and the Divisional Drug Unit and Crime Unit, based in Letterkenny, discovered 321 cannabis plants with an approximate street value of €128,000 during a search on a house at Maherwarden, Portsalon, yesterday.
A 28-year-old man was arrested and is being detained at Letterkenny Garda Station.
This raid was on one of almost half a dozen grow houses which have been busted by gardai in the past ten days.
Sources have confirmed that there is no link between yesterday's three operations.
