THE amount of illegal drugs seized by gardaí collapsed last year, falling from a record €202m in seizures in 2008 to just €38.7m in 2009.

Seizures of nearly every major street drug showed a marked decline and even an upwards revaluation of some drugs could not mask the stark fall.

Garda sources said there were a number of reasons for the reduction, not least the rising number of head shops offering legal highs, along with the fact there were no 'bumper' seizures last year.

In previous years, massive shipments of drugs – particularly cocaine – had literally fallen into the hands of gardaí when discovered off the Irish coast.

The amount of cannabis recovered in 2009 more than halved from 1,018 kilograms to just 572 kilograms.

However, gardaí valuations suggest there had been an increase in cocaine seizures with 2009 seizures valued at €6.8m, compared to just €2m for the previous year.

The amount of cannabis resin found by gardaí declined even more dramatically with seizures falling from 5,371kgs to 1,538kgs in 2009.

Heroin seizures also showed a substantial decrease with just 78kg of the drug seized last year, compared with 212kg in 2008.

By far the most significant decline was in the amount of cocaine recovered with just 118kg seized compared to 1,691kg in 2008.

Seizures of ecstasy also decreased with the number of tablets discovered falling from 119,413 to just 18,711 although an increase in seizures of liquid 'E' was recorded.

However, seizures of amphetamines almost trebled in volume and value.

There were also significant seizures of BZP in 2009, with €1.77m worth of the newly-popular drug impounded.

The Department of Justice said it was not possible to determine the amount of drugs coming into Ireland each year. It said: "Due to the covert nature of the activity, it is not possible to give a reliable estimate of the proportion of drugs coming into the country that these figures represent."

Gardaí believe that around 10% of all the illegal drugs coming into Ireland are actually seized. However, the decline in value of drugs seizures from more than €200m to less than €40m cannot be entirely explained by a contraction in demand.

One senior garda source said: "There are a lot of factors in this, and it would be fair to say that the amount of drugs coming into Ireland has reduced because like every other product in a recession, demand has gone down.

"A major revaluation of drugs also took place during the year with the value ascribed to some drugs increasing substantially and for others, reducing.

"The street value of cann­abis was re-calculated as being six times more valuable at €12,000 per kilo while heroin was reduced by a quarter to €150,000 for every kilogram.