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Gardaí has seized more than € 1 million in cash after stopping a van on the M7 motorway in Co Kildare at around 6.30am this morning.
A man from Eastern Europe has been arrested and is being questioned at Portlaoise Garda station.
Officers from the Office of Drugs and Organized Crime stopped a pickup truck on the M7 this morning.
In addition to the significant amount of cash seized from the van, another € 10,000 in cash was found in a follow-up search in the Midlands.
The driver, a 45-year-old man from Lithuania, was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a criminal organization, to facilitate money laundering, related to the alleged proceeds of drug trafficking.
He is detained under anti-gang law and can be questioned for up to seven days.
Gardaí has described the seizure as significant.
Deputy Commissioner John O’Driscoll said it is part of an operation to dismantle suspected organized crime groups by locating and confiscating their assets and targeting cybercrime, drug trafficking and money laundering.
Gardaí believes the money belongs to a family-based West Dublin drug gang operating out of the Ballyfermot area of the city.
It is the gang’s second major cash seizure in the past three months.
Last October, the Garda Office of Drugs and Organized Crime seized € 4 million following a raid on a remote property in Co Kerry.
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