Five people were arrested and a quantity of cannabis was seized after a high-speed pursuit of a car which sped away from a garda checkpoint in Cork last night.

Files are being prepared for the DPP in relation to each of the five people who were travelling in the car.

Another person has been charged arising out of a public order incident which occurred as gardai were detaining the occupants of the car moments after it was abandoned in a Carrigaline housing estate.

The events began unfolding at around 10pm last night as gardai from the Roads Policing Unit were mounting a routine checkpoint on the N28 at Raffeen, between Carrigaline and Ringaksiddy.

Gardai observed a car with five occupants approaching from the Shannonpark roundabout do a u-turn and speed away from the checkpoint.

The gardai jumped in their jeep, alerted other garda units, and pursued the car which turned left off the N28 onto Fernhill Rd.

Items were thrown from the car as it was driven at high speed, dangerously and erratically, along Fernhill Rd, right onto Church Rd and through the roundabout near the Carrigaline Court Hotel before it swung right into the Owenabue Heights housing estate, where it was abandoned.

Its occupants - the driver, a 21-year-old male, two males, one in his late teens and the other a juvenile, and two females, one aged 18 and the other a juvenile - attempted to flee on foot.

The members of the Roads Policing Unit detained them quickly with the assistance of local garda units from Carrigaline and Togher.

The 18-year-old female admitted possession of cannabis, produced it for gardai and gave a voluntary caution memo at the scene before being released.

The other four occupants were arrested under the Misuse of Drugs Act for the purpose a carrying out a thorough search.

They were brought to local garda stations where all four admitted to possession of cannabis.

All were later released without charge. Files are now being prepared for the DPP in relation to the incident.

However, as they were being detained in the housing estate, a woman in her 30s, believed to be a relative of one of the male occupants of the car, arrived at the scene and a verbal altercation ensued.

She was arrested under the Public Order Act and later charged to appear in court at a later date.

Gardai later searched the roads along which the car fled earlier and recovered suspected cannabis. The total value of drugs recovered is in the order of €500.

The car was also seized when it was discovered that it was not taxed and had no insurance.