Vietnamese men to be sentenced over growhouse

Gardaí in Tralee, Co Kerry, who raided a huge cannabis growhouse in an industrial estate in Tralee on confidential information, found €1.4m worth of cannabis under cultivation and living quarters for two people.

Two Vietnamese men, both aged 30, were arrested at the scene in October 21, 2013, and both pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale and supply and to cultivation of cannabis illegally, the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee was told at the sentencing hearing yesterday.

The operation in part of the 40-acre industrial complex in Tralee had been sealed off from outside entry; up to €50,000 had been needed to turn what had been a warehouse into a growhouse, and “a significant drug gang” operating internationally had been behind it, and in charge of the two men, said the head of the Kerry Drugs Division.