Man arrested as gardaí seize cannabis plants worth €30,000 in Cork village

Gardaí have discovered yet another cannabis growhouse in North Cork, this time in the village of Ballyhooly where they seized plants worth in the region of €30,000.

Uniformed gardaí and members of the Fermoy District Drugs Squad searched a rented house in a housing estate in the village and arrested a 28-year-old Polish man at the scene.

The plants, which were nearly mature enough for harvesting, were seized in an upstairs bedroom along with what Garda sources described as very sophisticated heating, lighting, and watering equipment.

The house was raided on foot of intelligence-gathering by local gardaí at around 8.30pm last Wednesday.

Gardaí also recovered a small quantity of harvested cannabis.

The man was arrested under drug trafficking legislation and taken to Fermoy Garda Station.

According to Garda sources it’s possible for even a small operation to produce up to four crops of cannabis a year and the profits are significant.

Sources have expressed concern about the number of young people who are smoking cannabis in the North Cork area

Late last month in the nearby village of Kildinan, gardaí detained a man in his 20s when they raided a house which contained about €40,000 worth of cannabis plants in various stages of growth.

The last major growhouse to be discovered in Co Cork was at Newcestown, near Bandon.

On Nov 2 drugs squad detectives discovered 200 plants and some cultivated cannabis with a street value of €170,000.

Garda sources in West Cork said there were ongoing operations in the region in an effort to stamp out the recent rise in growhouses.