Three people have been charged after cannabis with a street value of half a million pounds was seized from an underground facility near Aghagallaon – described by a police officer as the “most sophisticated” he has ever seen.
The large quantity of the Class B drug was seized at Colane Road on June 10 this year.
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’
He made his first appearance in court on the charges at Friday’s Craigavon Magistrates’ Court.
The court was told it was “quite a large investigation” and the operation had, it was claimed, had links to “organised crime”.
A prosecutor said the full case file in Brannigan’s case is not due with her department from police until August 6.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan was told there were no police bail conditions and he said: “I think it is strange there are no conditions at the minute”.
The judge put the defendant on £300 court bail with a condition that he resides at his home address.
The defendant’s case was adjourned to August 15.
A 55-year-old and 27-year-old charged with cultivating cannabis had previously appeared at court on the charge and were further remanded in custody at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
They are Alia Hajri and Cerpia Shpend with addresses listed as the location of the drugs find.
Their cases were adjourned to July 25.
The prosecutor said the full file in their cases is not due with her department from police until July 24.
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.”
