Gardai uncover advanced `skunk' drug lab in Dublin

Dun Laoghaire gardai believe they have uncovered the State's best equipped laboratory for producing the so-called "skunk" variety…

Dun Laoghaire gardai believe they have uncovered the State's best equipped laboratory for producing the so-called "skunk" variety of cannabis. It was discovered during a drug raid in a rented cottage in the grounds of a house in Cabinteely, Co Dublin.

Around 160 plants, producing some of the most powerful cannabis available, were seized and a local gardener, a man in his 20s was arrested by officers from the divisional drugs unit.

The "skunk" strain of the plant, cannabis sativa, emerged some years ago in Holland where kits for the production of the plant are available through magazines and Internet mailboxes.

The officers have spent the last two days disassembling the elaborate green house and laboratory which appeared to have been set up at the start of the year.

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Around 120 young cannabis plants were found in a glass house rigged up outside a prefabricated cottage in the grounds of a large garden off Brennanstown Road.

Inside the cabin gardai found the laboratory for finishing the plants with 40 cannabis plants ready for harvesting.

The plants inside the building were being finished with the use of artificial light, healing and the production of high levels of carbon dioxide (CO 2) with the use of yeast, sugar and water. CO2 is used by professional "skunk" cannabis growers to increase the growth rate of the plants.

The operation inside the cottage was controlled by sensors although it is believed the growing required almost daily attendance by the operator of the laboratory.

Other skunk-growing operations have been uncovered, including one with 500 plants in Cork, but the Cabinteely laboratory, although relatively small, is said by gardai to be the most comprehensively equipped laboratory they have yet uncovered.

Gardai involved in the examination of the laboratory reported an overpowering smell and oppressive atmosphere inside the building from the combination of flowering cannabis plants and the yeast fermentation.

The plants are said to contain dense foliage as well as huge flowering heads.

It is believed the operator of the Cabinteely skunk laboratory acquired his equipment through a Dutch contact late last year.

The man was arrested on Sunday under Section Two of the Criminal Justice (Drugs Trafficking Act) which allows his detention for up to seven days without charge. He was in garda custody in Dun Laoghaire last night and is expected to face charges at a later date.

No estimate was put on the total value of the cannabis at the laboratory last night but reports from British police forces suggest that a fully mature skunk plant can produce cannabis with a final black-market value of £1,000, due largely to the strength of the drug.

It is estimated that the current level of skunk cannabis strength - that is, its capacity to cause euphoria in the user - is 10 to 15 times that of the original cannabis sativa plant.

Among the ancillary equipment found at the cottage were two wooden presses used for compressing the herbal cannabis into a much more concentrated resin which is easier to conceal and sell.