Officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Organised Crime Branch and Auto Crime Team have today, Wednesday 20th August, arrested two men in connection with a large cannabis factory located in a warehouse in the Bangor area.
The men, both aged 30, have been arrested for cultivating cannabis and are currently in police custody.
A second property in the Newtownabbey area was also searched and approximately £13,000 cash was located inside.
Detective Inspector Kelly from Organised Crime Branch stated: “Both males were detained by police in a vehicle leaving the warehouse outside Bangor this morning. On entering the premises officers located a large cannabis cultivation spanning two floors. The potential street value of the yield from the cultivation would be in the region of £400,000 per harvest and a considerable amount of time and money has been invested in the enterprise by those involved. This has all the hallmarks of organised crime.”
“This type of criminality is far from victimless and a considerable policing operation is now ongoing to dismantle the facility. Our investigation is at an early stage and I would urge anyone with information to contact police on 101, quoting reference number 605 20/08/25. A report can be made online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ or you can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/.”