Increase in drug offences on Leeside

Gardaí are tackling the problem of drugs in Cork city head on, the Chief Superintendent stated this week.

It comes as new figures released on Monday showed an increase in drug offences in the city.

Chief Superintendent Barry McPolin revealed the new crime statistics during a Cork City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting where he compared the first five months of this year to the same time period last year.

There were five incidents of cultivation and manufacturing of drugs this year with zero in 2020.

Possession of drugs for sale or supply rose by 52 per cent, from 107 to 163. Drugs for personal use saw an increase of 65 per cent, from 398 to 655.

He said: “Drugs are very much here in Cork city. It is a problem, but we are tackling it head one. The statistics speak for themselves in that respect.”

The chief superintendent attributed the rise in drug offences and detections to the “trojan work” of two units in Cork city. He said there was a dedicated unit in the city centre who did a lot of work over the past year in tackling crime with a new unit with the same brief in place since 14 June.

Gardaí, he said, in Cork city also work under Operation Tara, which is a drug orientated project, over the past year. “We also brought in a team of people under that operation who will be there for the next 12 months to augment the regular unit.”