A major Garda investigation has been launched into a prostitution and drug-dealing operation at a centre for asylum seekers, Extra.ie can reveal.

Last Tuesday, officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau, assisted by gardaí from Finglas, raided Balseskin reception centre in north Dublin, which houses more than 300 asylum seekers.

During the raid, four Georgian men were arrested and charged with various immigration offences.

However, Extra.ie understands a wider investigation into more serious criminal activity, including prostitution and drug dealing, is also underway.

The four Georgians are not in any way suspected of involvement in the prostitution racket or drug dealing. Extra.ie understands that videos of asylum seekers apparently injecting heroin were uploaded to social media in recent weeks.

Some of these were later viewed by gardaí.

Detectives also have information that women living at the centre are involved in prostitution being arranged by other male residents.

It is not suspected that men from outside the asylum centre have been paying to have sex with any women.

A senior source said: ‘It is a hotbed of criminal activity out there. The prostitution is a real issue.

‘And then some of the younger lads are putting videos of themselves online doing heroin.

‘It’s not a good place to be at the moment.’ While the raid at Balseskin led to some arrests and immigration charges, senior security sources say the investigation is ‘very live’.

A separate source said: ‘Some drugs were seized and immigration issues were uncovered.

‘But the probe into running prostitutes and drug dealing and drug using are very much live.

‘There will be more developments.’ Persons who arrive in Ireland as asylum seekers are placed in the direct provision system. They remain in this system until the State rules whether they should be deported or granted refugee status.

At the end of last year, there were 5,096 men, women and children, including 801 families, living in the 34 direct provision centres across 17 counties in Ireland.

These include 31 accommodation centres, two self-catering centres and one reception centre – the Balseskin facility in Finglas.

The total capacity for all centres is 5,503 people. Residents were spending an average of 23 months in direct provision by the end of December 2017, while 432 people had been in the system for five years or more.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice, which runs Ireland’s asylum centres, yesterday said: ‘As part of an intelligence-led operation, members of An Garda Síochána carried out a series of planned searches of accommodation rooms offered to persons resident in the Balseskin Reception Centre. These searches took place on Tuesday, March 27, 2018.

‘The operation was established following a series of complaints in relation to the possible misuse of drugs by a small minority of residents at the reception centre.

‘The vast majority of residents in our accommodation centres are law-abiding.

‘Misuse of drugs and the associated dangers to other residents, including children, from drug-related paraphernalia, etc, will not be tolerated in any of our accommodation centres.

‘As part of our duty of care to all those seeking international protection in Ireland, the department works very closely with An Garda Síochána and other State services to ensure that the best possible service is provided to all residents.

‘Expert medical care is provided to those who need such care following medical assessment.’ The statement concluded: ‘As the matter is the subject of an ongoing operation being undertaken by An Garda Síochána, which may or may not lead to arrests and charges, no further comment will be made.’