TheGarda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB orGNDOCB) is a specialist national unit within theGarda Síochána,Ireland's national police service, responsible for proactively targeting and investigatingdrug trafficking and seriousorganised crime both within Ireland and outside the jurisdiction.[1] The Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau has a complement of 111 Detective Gardaí and a total staff of up to 400 officers, all of whom are armed.[2][3]
The bureau is based atDublin Castle,Dublin 2 and also has offices at the Garda Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) Headquarters at Harcourt Street, Dublin City. It is headed by aDetective Chief Superintendent and fourDetective Superintendents, reporting to theAssistant Commissioner in charge of theGarda National Support Services.[4]
Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland is the current head of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.[5]
The Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau was formed in February 2015 with the amalgamation of theGarda National Drugs Unit (GNDU) andGarda Organised Crime Unit (OCU) as part of theIrish government'sNational Drugs Strategy 2009-2016.[6] The National Drugs Unit had been operating since its creation in 1995, often working in tandem with the newer Organised Crime Unit, which was set up on a pilot basis in 2005 and became an established entity in 2008. The merger was announced byGarda CommissionerNóirín O'Sullivan during tough budgetary times in an effort to create a more effective and proactive drugs "super unit".[7] Organised and serious crime is also the responsibility of the larger GardaNational Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), and the new bureau works closely with theGarda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) and other law enforcement agencies on the international front.
Ireland has become a gateway to the European market for international drug smuggling gangs, as well as the domestic market,[8] which has seen disputes spill over into targetedassassinations on the streets of Irish cities. Previous seizures by Gardaí, theIrish Naval Service and theRevenue Commissioners Customs have come close to topping €1 billion, with one individual seizure ofcocaine off the Irish coast in 2008 estimated to be worth €750 million.[9][10] From 2009 to 2014 there have been over 700 arrests of drug dealers who were infiltrated by undercover Gardaí. There have been cases which involved members of the undercover drug unit who were so convincing posing as drug addicts that they were arrested by other undercover Gardaí who did not actually believe they were part of the undercover unit.[11]
Detectives and undercover Gardaí attached to the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau carry semi-automatic 9mmSIG Sauer P226,Walther P99 and concealable99c pistols due to the dangerous nature of their work.
The main focus of the bureau is on;
| Organised & Serious Crime |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Security and Intelligence | ||
| Traffic | ||
| Other units / structure | ||
| Scandals | ||
| Other | ||
| Oversight | ||
| Associated bodies | ||