Cherished Number Plates News

ANPR Combats Drugs in Ireland

07 October 2008

The registration numbers of every vehicle which enters and leaves Rosslare Europort in County Wexford, Ireland will be instantly recorded under new technology.

Revenue is introducing an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system on a pilot basis at the busy Co Wexford hub.

The new technology will help Revenue officers quickly track and identify vehicles suspected of illegally carrying goods such as drugs or cigarettes in an out of the country, the capital of which has been rocked by a raging drugs feud between the Drimnagh and Crumlin areas of Dublin and subsequent shootings and bomb plantings.

It’s clear that the government and all law enforcement agencies are becoming more and more desperate to quell the drugs trade which is costing the state, police force and Army millions each year in trying to tackle the problem.

A Revenue spokeswoman said: “Officers had to previously scroll through hours of CCTV footage if they wanted to track the registration details of a single vehicle. This new system will make this work more time-efficient.”

The new technology, which will be installed in coming months, will be used on Rosslare’s import and export channels.

Licence Plate Recognition Technology is clearly now becoming an ever growing system used worldwide with even the smaller of facilities taking notice, as in this case.

Last week officers seized €439,000 in cash which had been concealed in the door panels of a car arriving at Rosslare from France.

Last July, a 25kg package of cannabis resin was found hidden in a petrol tank in a UK-registered car which had arrived at Rosslare from Cherbourg in France, undoubtedly on a course to street dealers and causing more and more violence.