Wexford Gardai welcome Ogie from the dog unit as drug smuggling becomes increasingly complex

An Garda Síochána Wexford welcomed Ógie and her handler from the Garda Dog Unit to Rosslare Europort to assist the Immigration Unit with searching trailers. The Garda Dog Unit was established in 1960 and includes the Garda National Dog Unit, the Southern Region Dog Unit, and the North Western Region Dog Unit. The unit supports frontline operational members using dogs in three categories: general purpose, explosive detection, and drug/cash/firearms detection. Gardaí described the port as handling a large volume of trucks, cars, and passengers and emphasized strict immigration control. A new Garda Immigration building at the port, officially opened in September 2025, improves facilities with integrated processing and detention rooms. Recent enforcement includes a cocaine seizure involving a truck with concealed fuel-tank drugs and lead-lined concealment.

"An Garda Síochána Wexford recently welcomed Ógie and her handler from the Garda Dog Unit to Rosslare Europort to assist in the searching of trailers with the Immigration Unit based at the port."

"The Garda Dog Unit was established in 1960. The unit is currently comprised of the Garda National Dog Unit, the Southern Region Dog Unit and the North Western Region Dog Unit. The unit provides support to frontline operational members. The dogs attached to the Garda Dog Unit fall into three categories, general purpose, explosive and drug/cash/firearms detection dogs."

"“Each year we see a huge number of trucks, cars and passengers pass through the port, and we run a very tight ship when it comes to immigration control”, Gardaí said. “Officially opened in September 2025, our state-of-the-art Garda Immigration building at Rosslare Europort has been a huge improvement to the facilities used by An Garda Síochána, making it easier for supporting units to assist us at one of Ireland's busiest entry points.”"

"Last year, a 57-year-old Bulgarian man has been charged in connection with a seizure of approximately 150kg of cocaine to the value of €10.5m at Rosslare Europort. The truck involved was flagged travelling on the Victoria Seaways from Dunkirk to Rosslare and had cocaine concealed in the fuel tank of the vehicle. During the search of the vehicle a sophisticated concealment with lead lining was discovered."

Read at Irish Independent