Multi million cannabis ‘grow house’ accused before courts
THREE Chinese nationals, arrested in connection with the operation of what is believed to be the largest cannabis cultivation operation detected in the State, have been remanded to appear at Cloverhill District court today (Wednesday).
Last week, Tullamore Gardai, assisted by the reigonal support unit and the local drugs unit, raided a warehouse in Durrow, Tullamore, and discovered about 5,000 cannabis plants, valued at €1.5 million.
Following the ‘grow house’ discovery,Tangfu Han (25), Weiwen Wang (26) and Bin Wan (31), all of whom have no fixed residence in Ireland, were arrested in Durrow and detained at Tullamore Garda Station.
All three Asian men then appeared before Portlaoise District Court on Thursday, January 26 last, charged in connection with the investigation.
Before last week’s court sitting, Gardai objected to bail for the three Asian men as they are illegal immigrants with no fix address, who are facing serious charges.
When arrested, one defendant, Han replied that he “didn’t know they were cannabis”.
All three defendants were later remanded to Cloverhill District Court today (Wednesday).
Gardai have described last week’s raid as highly sophisticated with thousands of plants at various stages of growth and the “grow house” may have been in operation for a “number of months”.
It’s understood that specialist lighting and equipment had been used in the operation and the electricity meter had been bypassed and on entering the premises, gardaí found evidence to suggest that the people who were tending to the plants had been living in the cannabis factory.
Gardai have since moved the plants and associated paraphernalia equipment from the warehouse in Durrow to Dublin and Tullamore for analysis and storage.
Meanwhile, as part of an ongoing investigation, Gardai searched a house in Rochfortbridge, Co. Westmeath on January 26 last.
During the course of the search Garda discovered a quantity of cannabis with an estimated street value of €1,500.
A cultivation tent located at the rear of the house was also searched and cannabis plants with an estimated street value of €9,200 were also seized.
A man in his 40s was arrested at the scene and detailed under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984, at Mullingar Garda Station. He was later released without charge pending a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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Comments
There are 3 comments to this article
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Shorty1786
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 01:05 AMThe time is now to stop this campaign against cannabis. We have fought the war on drugs for more than 40 years and its a losing battle wasting money and police time. Move cannabis to a medicine and allow sick people a life changing drug to allow them to live their life. Drug raids like this does more harm than good to our communitys. Police are giving criminal recOrds to good people all because they grow a plant. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION!!!
A quiet man
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 11:09 PMwhen will our politicians do something about this waist of money and time and when will the Garda stop punishing people for choosing to self medicate with a non toxic non addictive and according to the best scientific advise can be safely used for a large number of ailments from lack of sleep to cancer so what is the problem? instead of just running a score card it would be nice if the journalist gave us a real story for a change like the truth about cannabis
Dan Ford
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10:36 PMPeople will look back on this era of Cannabis prohibition much as we now look back and see how stupid alcohol prohibition was. This is all so damaging to society and every day the damage gets worse and harder to recover from. Can you imagine the power that the likes of Al Capone would now wield if the alcohol prohibition had been allowed to continue for nearly 100 years? They would have enough legislators in their pockets so that they could influence governments and ensure that alcohol prohibition continued. Now that is exactly the position the "drug barons" are in today. For this reason I believe that legalisation of Cannabis is the most urgent issue on this planet today. What we need, instead of a blanket prohibition of Cannabis, is a proper legally regulated supply that will benefit the U.K. economy through huge tax revenues and free up the resources of the police and courts to deal with real crimes. Most of all a properly regulated supply will protect young people, as it is in the area of Age Limits that prohibition has proven such a huge failure. In countries where there is provision for the legal supply of Cannabis to adults the use of Cannabis, and indeed other substances as well, is greatly reduced amongst youngsters. This is because the licensed suppliers know full well that if they are caught supplying to minors they stand to lose their licence, so they just don't do it. Whereas in good old Blighty we have to soldier on with prohibition giving the whole market straight into the hands of dealers who simply want to see your money, they will sell Cannabis to anyone of any age. And that's not all! These unscrupulous dealers are often likely to say "Oh sorry, I couldn't get any weed this week, this other stuff is all they had, why don't you try some?" and then proceed to offer Heroin. So, legalise, regulate and tax the supply of Cannabis for a Britain that is happier, less violent and more affluent.
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