international crime gang growing cannabis crops in the Republic have seized cannabis plants and cannabis herb valued at about €500,000

GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING an international crime gang growing cannabis crops in the Republic have seized cannabis plants and cannabis herb valued at about €500,000 in three so-called “grow houses”.

The Irish Times has learned that gardaí have now fitted heat detecting equipment to the Garda helicopter to detect grow houses, which generate very significant heat, from the air. The move comes as detections of such houses show no signs of abating two years after their presence here first emerged.

“We believe they are now probably throughout the country,” said one Garda source.

The latest finds were made in three rented houses in Co Meath in an operation by the Garda National Drugs Unit and local gardaí that has been ongoing since the start of the week.

One man, a Vietnamese national, has been arrested. Gardaí believe he was working for an Asian crime gang that has been operating in the Republic in recent years.

Gardaí believe the gang has been growing cannabis in houses expertly fitted out with the heating, insulation and irrigation systems needed to grow large quantities of cannabis. The drug was being processed and sold to other criminals in Ireland and overseas.

The Garda operation into the latest finds began on Monday evening when a house on the Old Bog Road near Dunshaughlin was searched and 340 plants were found growing in a sophisticated operation.

On Tuesday gardaí carried out a follow-up operation at a house in Culmullen, Drumree, near Dunshaughlin where another growing operation was found, involving 450 plants. Some 10kg of processed cannabis ready for sale was also found at that location. In another search on Tuesday, 150 plants were found at a house in Hallstown, not far from Dunshaughlin.

Gardaí estimate the total value of the find is bout €500,000.

The 56-year-old Vietnamese man was arrested at the Hallstown address. Gardaí believe he was being used by the gang to tend to the plants and to ensure the lighting, heating and irrigation systems put in place in all three properties were functioning properly. The suspect has been in Ireland illegally for at least eight years. He is believed to have worked in fast food outlets before becoming involved with the criminal gang growing the plants.

He is being held at Kells Garda station and can be detained for up to seven days without charge.

The finds were part of Operation Nitrogen, which was put in place by the Garda National Drugs Unit to find grow houses since the trend first emerged about two years ago.

The gang involved in the houses in Co Meath is made up of Asian criminals with links to the UK. Gardaí believed they have been behind other growing operations found in the Republic and that they sell the processed cannabis to gangs in Ireland and the UK.