Gardaí have recovered almost €1.5 million worth of drugs and cash in separate operations in Cork and Limerick.

Gardaí arrested two men in their 30s for questioning following the seizure of almost €800,000 worth of drugs and more than €40,000 in cash in an operation in Cork on Tuesday afternoon.

Officers from the Cork City Divisional Drugs Unit pounced as two men were carrying out a drugs exchange from a van on Maryborough Ridge in Douglas in Cork city at about 3pm.

Detectives arrested the driver of the van at the scene, a man in his 30s from Dublin, as they uncovered 10kg of suspected cocaine worth €700,000 and 3kg of suspected cannabis worth €60,000.

Officers also recovered €40,000 in cash, which they believe is the proceeds of drug dealing, when they carried out a detailed search of the van, which was also seized for further examination.

The other man tried to flee the scene but was arrested, and in a follow-up search of an apartment in the area gardaí recovered half a kilo of cocaine worth €35,000 and €2,500 in cash.

The Dublin man was arrested and taken to Togher Garda station for questioning, while the second man, who is from the Douglas area of Cork, was taken to the Bridewell for questioning.

Both are detained under anti-drug trafficking legislation which allows gardaí to detain suspects for up to seven days before they must be charged or released.

The suspected drugs were sent to the Forensic Science Ireland laboratory in Co Kildare for examination to confirm they are cocaine and cannabis and to establish their purity and precise street value.

Garda technical experts have begun a forensic examination of the van and apartment for DNA and fingerprint evidence to link the suspects to the drugs.

Meanwhile, gardaí in Limerick seized €540,000 worth of suspected cannabis herb in a raid on a house in Newcastlewest in Co Limerick, also on Tuesday.

Detectives from the Limerick Divisional Drugs Unit, based at Henry Street, made the find when they searched a residential property at Carraigkerry in Newcastlewest.

The drugs will be sent to Forensic Science Ireland for analysis. No arrests have been made yet in the investigation, said the Garda press office.