WILLIAM Street traders have expressed alarm at the growing number of addicts openly shooting up on their busy thoroughfare, with claims that one man was threatened with a needle. This week, traders came face-to-face with gardai and residents to discuss their plight, in a meeting arranged by Cllr Maria Byrne.
“Customers have been intimidated, and the residents of an apartment block on the street also felt under threat, with the result that landlords employed security. “Can you imagine trying to enter your own home and being dangerously threatened in this way,” said the councillor. Now, William Street is to have significantly more garda surveillance.
Chief Superintendent Gerry Mahon said that heroin accounts for 42 per cent of the total amount of drugs seized in Limerick this year, but that the problem is a national one and not unique to this city.
He assured the meeting that with the co-operation of CAB, they will continue to wage war against the drug dealers. He also confirmed that half a million euro worth of drugs was recently seized and taken out of circulation, following a garda swoop on the southside.
