Image copyright An Garda Síochána Image caption Armed Gardaí (Irish police) pose with an estimated 37.5m euros worth of cannabis

Police and the Republic of Ireland's revenue service have put cannabis worth 37.5m euros (£32m), seized at Dublin Port on Friday, on display.

The seizure was bigger than the total quantity of the drug seized in the Republic in the past two years, according to national broadcaster RTE.

A total of 1,873 kilos of herbal cannabis was discovered concealed in wide-load containers.

They were labelled as containing machinery parts.

The containers arrived on a ship from mainland Europe.

The drugs were vacuum packed and concealed to avoid detection by X-rays and sniffer dogs.

Image copyright An Garda Síochána Image caption Gardaí and Irish revenue officials with almost 2,000 kilos of cannabis seized at Dublin Port

Gardaí (police) said investigations are continuing both locally and internationally.

Garda assistant commissioner John O'Driscoll said: "We are all about trying to achieve results and this, I believe in anyone's estimation, is a great result.

"We are about trying to tackle organised crime in a significant manner. The business of organised crime will be impacted."

He listed a string of recent operations including the seizure of firearms from groups "intent on killing each other" in an apparent reference to recent gangland killings in the city.

Mr O'Driscoll added: "All of these actions together combine to have a significant impact on organised crime."