Two Dublin Airport workers are being questioned on suspicion of drug trafficking after gardaí seized more than €1 million worth of cocaine.
The drug bust was made at the airport on Monday after a man got off a plane and traveled via Germany from Brazil to Ireland.
Gardaí reportedly approached the suspects when the shipment of drugs was collected from a toilet after it was transported into the country.
The Irish independent has been informed that two men in custody are Dublin Airport employees employed through an outside contractor.
DAA confirmed that none of its employees were involved in the incident.
A third man arrested is the person who flew to Dublin. He is considered a Brazilian citizen.
The suspects were held last night at Blanchardstown and Coolock Garda stations in the capital.
They are being held under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996, which allows them to be interrogated for up to seven days.
After the end of their detention, they must either be charged or released pending a file sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
A Garda spokesman said last night: “Three men were arrested in the Dublin Airport area by An Garda Síochána in connection with this seizure.
“The seizure was the result of a joint operation conducted by the Garda National Drugs and Organized Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) and the Internal Revenue Service.
“Help was also provided by law enforcement agencies in Germany and South America.”
The spokesperson says the investigation is continuing.
Detectives are trying to determine whether the drugs are related to the Kinahan cartel or another major Irish crime group.
They will also try to determine how long the suspected smuggling ring has been in business.
Last March, a 33-year-old Irishman traveling a similar route was arrested after 15kg of cocaine was found in his luggage in Zurich.
He had flown from Sao Paulo in Brazil to the Swiss city and had planned to continue on to Dublin via Frankfurt, but was arrested.
Gardaí is investigating the possibility of links between the two incidents, but links have not yet been confirmed.
In recent years, gardaí have increased their international cooperation with police forces around the world by seconding garda liaison officers to several countries.
This included sending a senior detective to the Colombian capital, Bogota, to assist with investigations into transnational drug trafficking from South America.
In a separate seizure on Monday, also carried out by the GNDOCB and the tax authorities, nearly €7 million worth of cannabis was seized following an operation at a business premises in Ballyhale, Co Kilkenny.
Two English nationals, aged between 30 and 40, are still in Garda custody over seizures on suspicion of drug trafficking.
A Garda spokesperson said: “The arrests followed an intelligence-led Garda operation targeting transnational drug trafficking networks, which was conducted in the course of Operation Tara, with the aim of disrupting, dismantling and prosecuting drug trafficking networks.”