Gardaí have seized €350,000 in cash and €10,000 in prescription sleeping tablets in Dublin and Cavan.

Three men were arrested yesterday evening after several cars were stopped on the M1 motorway just north of Swords as part of a criminal investigation. 

Large sums of money were discovered in vacuum packs in a holdall bag during the operation. 

Follow-up searches in a number of areas led to a vacuum-packing machine and associated equipment being recovered at an address in Tallaght, Dublin 24.

Zopiclone tablets with a street value in excess of €10,000 were also discovered at a property in Baileboro, Cavan.

The drug, which is prescribed to treat insomnia, has been regularly seized by gardaí in recent years.

Two of those arrested have been released pending the submission of files to the DPP.

One remains in custody at Swords garda station, detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.