GARDAÍ HAVE seized 314 fully grown cannabis plants – worth some €50,000 if harvested – at a house in Co Limerick.
The seizure was one of three significant cannabis hauls around the country over the past 48 hours.
During the Garda operation in Co Limerick on Wednesday morning, an Asian man was arrested at the scene in Glensharrold near Ardagh village. Garda sources said the plants were growing inside a number of rooms in the house, which was specially adapted to grow the drug.
Supt James O’Connor of Newcastle West Garda station said leaves from the plants were sent to the Garda forensic laboratory in Dublin for analysis.
Supt O’Connor said the man, in his 20s or 30s, was being questioned by local gardaí.
In west Dublin, a 20-year-old man from Cabra was arrested after gardaí discovered more than €1.5 million worth of cannabis resin in a car in Castleknock.
The driver and sole occupant of the car was arrested at 7am yesterday and can be detained at Blanchardstown Garda station for up to a week.
The arrest was part of an operation targeting the sale and supply of drugs in the Cabra and Blanchardstown areas of Dublin.
Meanwhile in Dundalk, Co Louth, a 23-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday night when officers found €250,000 worth of cannabis resin hidden in the boot of a car. The car was stopped by gardaí attached to the Dundalk traffic unit on the M1 motorway south of the Dundalk-Ardee slip road shortly before 10pm.
The Dundalk divisional drug unit assisted in the operation.