Five years in jail for man who grew cannabis in 24m underground bunker

An “indentured servant” who worked in an elaborate 24m-long underground bunker for growing cannabis was jailed for five years yesterday.

Garda Padraig Slater said 215 cannabis plants with a potential street value of €172,000 were found in the bunker under a mobile home at Derreenaling, Ballyvourney, Co Cork, in March.

Judge Patrick J Moran imposed a six-year jail term, with the last year suspended, on Adas Backovas, aged 31, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Defence barrister Donal O’Sullivan said Backovas was recruited by a friend of a friend in Lithuania at Christmas, and was given a ticket to fly to Cork, where he was met by a man who drove him to the remote forest area, where he lived for three months.

Mr O’Sullivan said Backovas was living in diabolical conditions that were close to those of an indentured servant.

Garda Slater accepted the conditions were bad and that, for the first three weeks of his time there, Backovas had no heater of any kind, until eventually some kind of stove was given to him, together with an untaxed and uninsured van and a small amount of food.

Mr O’Sullivan BL said the bunker was put in place by others and that Backovas was not even in the country at the time.

Garda Slater said the bunker and its concealment were elaborate. Two 12m containers were put in place and covered with a massive amount of earth. A mobile home was set over the containers and a trapdoor was put in the mobile home which provided access by ladder to the bunker.

The containers were elaborately fitted with two diesel generators to power the lighting and watering system for the cannabis plants. There was also an air-conditioning system.

The operation came to light after Backovas was stopped while driving the van near the mobile home. In the van was one of the generators, which had broken down. By this time, the electricity supply of a neighbour was being used to power the growhouse although it was stressed in court that the neighbour had no knowledge of the cannabis-growing.

Compounding Backovas’s difficulties yesterday was the fact that he had a previous conviction from Chelmsforth Crown Court in England for cannabis cultivation and theft of electrical supply, for which he received a 15-month jail sentence in 2011.

Judge Moran noted that Backovas really did not know where he was and that his role in the operation was one of gardener.

Backovas had been promised €10,000 for his part in the operation but he had received no money by the time he was caught by gardaí.

“This is a very serious offence,” said Judge Moran. “You were involved in looking after a large amount of cannabis and you had a previous conviction from 2011 [for a similar crime]. You knew it was a criminal offence and you got involved in this enterprise purely to make money.”