Interpol is warning that drug dealers are using some food delivery services in Ireland to transport drugs during the crisis.
Gardaí recovered 8 kilograms of cocaine as well as two handguns hidden in pizza boxes, according to the international policing organisation.
As well as Ireland, examples of the practice have been detected in countries such as Spain and Malaysia.
In Spain, authorities have arrested seven people after they were caught delivering cocaine and marijuana by bicycle, motorcycle and car.
Spanish police say some of the drugs had been hidden inside a false bottom of home delivery backpacks.
Some of the drugs discovered by Spanish police in delivery backpacks. Image via InterpolInterpol says some delivery riders knowingly and willingly deliver drugs, but that legitimate food delivery drivers have also been used as unwitting drug mules.
Some of the suspects are said to have been disguised as delivery drivers, while others are legitimate delivery drivers who also willingly delivered drugs.
However, they stress that other drivers have had no knowledge of the drugs they've been secretly given to deliver.
In a statement, Interpol said: "In one Malaysian case, a food delivery rider in the Gombak district of Kuala Lumpur contacted police and asked for his food package to be inspected after he became suspicious.
"The rider had been tasked with delivering a single order of Indian flatbread yet the parcel weighed approximately 11 kilograms."
Interpol says it has now issued a ‘purple notice’ to all its member countries with more information about how drug dealers are using food delivery services.
