Gardai arrest 36 people caught throwing drugs over prison wall

MULTIPLE arrests have been made by gardai targeting people throwing drugs over the wall to prisoners in Wheatfield Prison.

According to the latest garda statistics, some 36 people have been arrested and a further six cases for arrests are outstanding.

In January, The Echo revealed vast amounts of heroin, cocaine and tablets are among the contraband recovered by authorities in the perimeter around the Cloverhill Road prison, which has a capacity for 540 inmates.

This issue led to the formation of Operation Throwover, an initiative between the Irish Prison Service Operational Support Group based in Wheatfield Prison who have been working in a partnership with gardai.

Within the first two months of the operation, it led to 19 prosecutions.

Speaking at the Policing Meeting on Friday, Lucan Superintendent Paul Dolan said the current strategy is an operation between Lucan and Clondalkin gardai, and led by the Lucan station.

He said gardai discovered 81 incidents of people taking “stuff” into Wheatfield and Cloverhill prisons.

“Some (of the drug seizures) were small amounts, only a few were significant amounts.

But we do have some significant players in the district,” said Supt Dolan.

Speaking to The Echo back in January, a spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said the operation provides a constant garda presence in the perimeter areas around Wheatfield Prison.

In 2019, Wheatfield recorded the largest number of drug and phone seizures amongst Irish prisons, with 479 drug seizures and 298 mobile devices, while Cloverhill Remand Prison had 183 drug seizures.

In August, two people appeared in court after an alleged drive-by drug smuggling incident outside Wheatfield Prison.

The court was told a man was in the back seat of the car and a garda saw him attempting to throw items – copper bars containing drugs and two small mobile phones – over the prison wall.