A SHOW OF FORCE

IRISH MIRROR SPENDS DAY WITH COPS TACKLING STREET CRIME

- JOHN HAND

• High-visibility ops to reassure the community
• Drug dealers using teenagers as their lookouts

GARDAI are hitting back at street-level drug dealers who are using young teens as lookouts and gillies.

Locals have raised concerns that children as young as 13 are being paid by dealers operating in communities in Dublin’s north inner city.

But gardai are targeting the groups through surveillance, drug searches and seizures.

The Irish Mirror last week joined officers from Mountjoy Garda station on a day of action, led by Sergeant Paul Daly, focusing on criminality in the area.

In one early-morning raid, officers targeted a lower-to-mid-level drug dealer who is based in the Ballybough area.

And Supt Martin Mooney said youngsters are using e-scooters in their roles for drug gangs, but vowed his team will keep targeting them.

The senior officer, who has more than 40 years of experience, told us: “In the Bally-bough and Summerhill areas we have street-level dealing there.

“You can see youngsters there on the e-scooters, either as lookouts up and down the street or alternatively you see when money is paid over, they could walk over to a stash, come back with say just the bare amounts.

“So if they are caught they only have to say a small amount as if you’re in possession.

“But our operations do have an impact there where there is a deficit of drugs.