Gardaí have seized 38 e-scooters and e-bikes across Dublin during an operation that involved 63 searches across the Dublin Metropolitan Region today.

During the searches they also uncovered a sawn-off shotgun with ammunition, as well as €8,000 in cash and approximately €83,000 worth of suspected drugs.

A man in his 20s was arrested and is being detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against that State Act.

Billed as a "high intensity policing operation", today saw gardaí target the use of electric motorbikes, e-scooters and e-bikes for criminal activity, including drug distribution, money laundering, transporting firearms, Drug Related Intimidation (DRI) and other serious offences.

Reports say more than 100 gardaí were involved in today's operation in west Dublin while another 200 took part in the city centre.

Hi-viz jackets and helmets are now mandatory under new e-scooter regulations that came into effect at the beginning of August. The new laws also extended the ban from under-16s to under-18s. From September, every e-scooter user in the Republic will require a licence and registration.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly last month told an Oireachtas committee that he agreed with calls for a ban on e-scooters, saying society would be “better off” without them. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was “leaning towards” introducing a total ban on the machines after a series of incidents involving young people resulted in deaths and serious injuries.