Gardaí find cannabis butter, cookies and gin during house raid in Cork

TIME WAS when the constabulary went forth in search of poitín in the wilds of Co Cork but gardaí from Mallow created a little bit of history at the weekend when they raided a house in North Cork and found cannabis cookies, butter and – cannabis gin.

The surprise discovery of about €15,000 worth of cannabis products was made when the Mallow drugs unit under Det Sgt Paul Reidy backed up by uniformed officers raided a house at Glantane about six kilometres from Mallow at 7.30am.

Gardaí found an upstairs room in the two-storey isolated house had been converted into a cannabis nursery where there were up to 30 cannabis plants along with lights, heaters and various nutrients to help the plants mature.

In a kitchen they found up to two dozen cannabis cookies, half pound of cannabis butter and a number of bottles of cannabis gin.

According to a Garda source, the gin, which had been named Creme de Grass by the home grower, was carefully bottled in specially-sealed litre containers while gardaí also found up to a gallon of the liquid stored in other containers.

It is understood the gin had been made from distilled alcohol derived from cannabis leaves and had been allowed mature in oak barrels for up two years. Gardaí believe the product was being supplied to a small number of people.

“It certainly was a surprising find. We had heard of cannabis cookies and buns before but never cannabis butter – we gather it was being used as a cooking ingredient for the cookies – while the gin was a complete first for us here in north Cork,” said one officer.

Gardaí arrested a 46-year-old man and he was brought to Mallow Garda station where he was questioned before being released without charge. A file will be now be prepared for the DPP.

In a separate investigation in west Cork, Gardaí from Bandon raided a house in Innishannon where they found a cannabis nursery with some €26,000 worth of plants. An east European couple in their 20s were arrested and brought to Bandon Garda station for questioning.