Electric scooters, a “quiet and efficient delivery service” for drug traffickers

“It was fluid and very fast. The drugs came out of one fanny pack, the money went into the other,” he said.

“They can be very bold on electric scooters and there are a lot of them.”

Drugs are now being distributed across cities on electric scooters, forming a silent and efficient delivery service.

A number of guards told the Irish Examiner that even if these vehicles are used by criminals to sell drugs, the guards cannot pursue them in case a suspect is injured during the chase and the guards would be held criminally responsible.

“It’s a win-win situation for the criminals,” a Garda source said.

“Electric scooters provide a fast, mobile means of transportation, and guards are limited in their use.”

E-scooter drivers who sell drugs tend to be “terribly young,” Mr. Guerin said.

“Many of them are minors. Drug traffickers give credit lines to people who can’t afford it to recruit them as mules, distributors, dealers. They get caught in the trap. And once you get into this system, there’s no way out.

“Hierarchical structure”

“There is an extremely large hierarchical structure of people who are expendable because they are very low in the food chain and distribute the drugs. One of the main modes of transportation they use in urban areas is the electric scooter.”

Electric scooters can also be terrifying for pedestrians in Limerick city now, Mr Guerin said.

“They’re silent, so they can suddenly be on top of you. And they can travel at 60 km/h.

“I almost got hit by one of those last week, it missed by inches.

“And I know a girl whose ankle was broken when an electric scooter riding on the sidewalk hit her recently.”

Riding electric scooters on sidewalks is illegal.

New laws were introduced in May to regulate their use, which also stipulate that users must be aged 16 or over and that the speed limit for e-scooters is 20km/h.

But many electric scooters can go at much higher speeds. Their average speed is between 15 and 30 mph, but some can go up to 80 mph.

“Legislation has been passed to better regulate the use of electric scooters.

“But legislation is only effective to the extent that it is implemented,” Guerin said.

In Cork’s north city, a woman has been spotted riding an electric scooter erratically on a pavement in recent days.

“She was completely out of it, looking over her shoulder,” one witness said.

“I saw another woman crossing the road and calling out to him.

The woman on the electric scooter stopped. She took out a large clear plastic bag and began taking out medications and lining them up on the ground. They looked like pharmaceutical drugs, they were not in boxes but in strips.

The Cork resident said drug use has become much more visible and open in Cork city since the Covid pandemic.

“There are houses on Shandon St where you see open drug dealing, with people throwing drugs out of windows at people.

“The other day a man was injecting heroin on the steps of the chapel near Blarney Street.

“Cork really needs somewhere where drug users can inject more safely.

“It would be safer for them and for society, and it would keep needles and syringes off the streets.”

A Garda source said drug dealing was now open throughout Cork city.

“There is now open drug trafficking outside Brown Thomas,” they said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if electric scooters were used to distribute them,” they said.