Two men arrested after cannabis factory raid

Gardaí raided a cannabis factory yesterday in East Cork and seized up to €35,000 worth of drugs and equipment.

Two men in their 30s who were arrested as part of the operation were later released without charge.

Files are being prepared for the DPP.

Gardaí and detectives from Cobh swooped on the isolated house in the Marlogue area at about 3am.

They found that a portion of the house had been converted for the cultivation of cannabis plants.

It is understood there were over two dozen cannabis plants at various stages of growth inside the house.

Gardaí also found cannabis being dried, and somealready dried out in preparation for distribution.

The gardaí seized the plants, lighting, heating, and irrigation equipment, as well as a range of other drug-related paraphernalia.

It was described last night as a “significant” blow to drugs gangs operating in the area.

One man had earlier been arrested. A second man was arrested at the scene.

One is Irish and the other a foreigner, and both are in their 30s.

They were detained under section four of the Criminal Justice Act and were taken to Cobh Garda Station for questioning.

Both were released without charge yesterday.

The raid is the latest in a series of successful garda operations targeting cannabis growhouses.

Last month, gardaí busted three cannabis factories, worth over €600,000, in the South-East in three days.

These raids followed the discovery of the largest ever growhouse operation in the country the previous week, when an estimated €3m worth of cannabis plants were found in Piltown, Co Kilkenny.

In March, gardaí discovered cannabis plants with an estimated value of €800,000 being cultivated in a disused factory, also in East Cork.

A few days earlier, firemen fighting a blaze at a house on North St, Skibbereen, discovered a large number of cannabis plants and alerted gardaí.

That seizure was valued at over €200,000.