Brother of Ireland footballer and club coach due in court over €3m heroin seizure

The Irish Independent previously revealed how the pair linked to Irish football were arrested by detectives following the controlled delivery of the massive drugs haul at a business premises in Dublin 15.

Mr Quinn is a former professional footballer who was on the books at Sheffield United in his youth before moving on to play with a number of League of Ireland teams, including Cork City and Shelbourne.

However, more recently he has played for Bluebell United FC in the Leinster Senior League.

He is also the younger brother of highly respected professional footballer Stephen Quinn (34), who has a number of caps for the Ireland international team and represented the team in their 2016 Euro qualifying campaign.

Stephen Quinn has played with prestigious English teams including Sheffield United and Hull City, while more recently he has lined out for Burton Albion in League One.

Mr Noonan is manager of Bluebell United FC in the Leinster Senior League.

He has held the head coach role at the Dublin club for several years during which the team has won a number of league titles.

He is known to gardaí and has previous convictions for firearms offences dating back to the early 2000s.

The two men are due to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice this morning.

They were arrested when members of the Garda's Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) recovered 22kg of suspected heroin, with an estimated street value of €3m, in the international operation.

The two men were being quizzed at Blanchardstown garda station under drug-trafficking legislation.

Det Chief Supt Angela Willis, who is in charge of the DOCB, said the operation involved Revenue as well as gardaí, and resulted in the seizure of a "significant quantity of heroin".

It is one of the largest individual seizures of drugs so far this year.