Cocaine has taken over as cannabis as the drug of prevalence in county Mayo over the past 12 months, with almost twice as much of the substance being discovered..

This was confirmed today by Garda Supt Joe McKenna at a meeting of the county Joint Policing Committee.

The success of the Garda operations in the county in detecting drug offences was evident from the records supplied by Supt McKenna.

Over the last 12 weeks, gardai in Mayo have seized just under 400,000 euro worth of drugs together with 45,000 euro in cash.

Last year (2020) 48,000 euro in cash was secured in such seizures over the entire year.

The detection in the supply and sale of drugs in the county is up 75 percent this year over last, with 16 people charged with the offense in 2020 and 28 people in 2021.

The greatest volume of detections were in the Claremorris area over the last year, followed by Ballina, Castlebar and Westport.

Supt McKenna thanked the general public for their assistance in supplying information on suspicious drug activity in communities and asked the general public to continue to do so.

He also thanked the Chief Supt Tony Healy for the additional resources now available in the county in the fight against drugs.