Two people charged after cannabis with a street value of half a million pounds was seized from an underground facility near Aghagallon – described by a police officer as the “most sophisticated” he has ever seen – are “intending” to plead guilty.
The large quantity of the Class B drug was seized at Colane Road on June 10 this year.
A previous court was told it was “quite a large investigation” and the operation had, it was claimed, had links to “organised crime”.
Alia Hajri (55) and Cerpia Shpend (27), with addresses listed as the location of the drugs find, are charged with cultivating cannabis.
The cases were mentioned at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
A prosecutor said the full case file had been due with her department from police by July 24 but has yet to be received.
She said drug classification results are not due until September 29; DNA results until November 3; and fingerprints analysis has a five month timetable.
No due date was given for phone analysis, she added.
A defence lawyer said his instructions from both accused are that “their intention is to plead guilty to this matter down the line”.
They were further remanded in custody until September 19.
A third accused – Noel Brannigan (69), with an address listed as Whitehall Road, Aghagallon – is charged with cultivating cannabis and ‘being the occupier or being concerned in the management of premises’ at Colane Road ‘knowingly permitted or suffered the production of a controlled drug of Class B, namely cannabis’.
His case had been mentioned at court on August 15. He is on bail and his case had been adjourned to September 26.
In a recent PSNI media release, Detective Inspector Conor Sweeney said it was the “most sophisticated cannabis farm I have encountered”.
He said: “A substantial degree of engineering and investment has gone into the construction and concealment of this underground facility which housed plants with an estimated street value of £500,000.
“However, this set-up is fundamentally dangerous and we have availed of the expertise of several partner agencies to make the site safe for officers to properly examine the scene and remove plants and equipment.
“Our investigation into the organised crime gang responsible for this farm will continue beyond these arrests. The motivation of criminal gangs is, and always has been, one thing: greed.
“They will happily exploit vulnerable people with addiction and debt issues in order to fuel this greed.
“As a police service, we rely heavily on the support of the public and need people to come forward with any information they have relating to such criminality.”
