These deaths bear similarities to the recent deaths in Dublin and Glasgow.
Most heroin reaching Dublin and Glasgow comes through Amsterdam and usually originates in Asia.
However, Europol, the EU police intelligence agency, has reported that South American gangs are increasing their flow of drugs into European markets. These samples are being sent to the US for examination. Garda sources said it seemed uncertain whether all the deaths could be attributed to a contaminated batch of the drug. An average batch of heroin will be used by at least 100 or 200 addicts, and it might be expected that any bacteriological contamination would be more widespread. However, it is understood that the victims were all injecting directly into muscle tissue, as the addicts all had problems from prolonged injection into their veins.