The US has become the single biggest supplier of cannabis to the Irish drug market after a rapid increase in transatlantic smuggling, new figures show.
Excess product from saturated legal cannabis markets in the US is now being siphoned off for smuggling into the Republic.
The trend has accelerated sharply over the last year, coinciding with US president Donald Trump directing unprecedented military and law enforcement action against Venezuela and threatening other countries that he has accused of flooding the US with drugs.
Irish organised crime gangs have forged strong relationships with cannabis suppliers in the US as well as Canada and Thailand.
The Irish criminals are exploiting…