Gardai uncover underground cannabis growhouse in Cork

Gardaí were last night continuing to question three men arrested following the discovery of a sophisticated underground cannabis growhouse with plants worth over €100,000 in Co Cork.

Members from the West Cork Divisional Drugs Unit arrested three Lithuanians yesterday when they raided a caravan on rented land at Dereenaling in Ballyvourney near the Kerry border.

Officers discovered a sophisticated underground bunker constructed from two 40 foot long containers with heating and lighting equipment hidden beneath the caravan.

According to gardaí, the gang had excavated out land with a JCB and buried the two containers before placing a caravan over the site with a trap door leading to the bunker.

The bunker was equipped with a diesel generator to power electric lights being used to mature the plants while the gang had also siphoned water from a local stream to help grow the plants.

gardaí in West Cork, who have considerable experience in investigating cannabis growhouse operations, described it as one of the most”ingenious and sophisticated we’ve come across”.

"It was very well constructed and very well concealed - the fact they were using their own generator meant that their ESB bill never soared which is often a tell tale sign," said one Garda source.

The three men, who are aged 46, 44 and 31, were arrested at the scene following the raid by gardaí at around 7.30pm on Tuesday evening under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act.

Two of the men were brought to Bandon Garda Station and the third was brought to Macroom Garda Station for questioning about the growhouse operation.

Gardaí sealed off the scene overnight and yesterday Garda technical experts carried out a detailed forensic examination of the bunker for fingerprint and other DNA evidence.

gardaí also began removing the plants which are of varying stages of maturity and they are due to sent for analysis to the state laboratory to get a more precise figure for their value.

gardaí were last night trying to establish how long the cannabis growhouse operation had been in existence producing cannabis which they believe was being supplied to the local and national markets.