As part of Operation Nitrogen, gardaí from the Cork City Divisional Drug Unit, assisted by local units, searched an industrial unit at Ballycurreen Industrial Estate in Frankfield on 29 March 2014.[1][2] The Saturday-evening raid found about 18 kilos of harvested cannabis plants and 250 cannabis plants, which Gardaí valued at €600,000 subject to analysis.[1] The Irish Times put the plant count at 300 and reported the 18 kilos of herb alone were worth about €360,000.[2]
Three men and a woman aged 35 to 45 were arrested: two Chinese men and a British woman of Chinese extraction inside the warehouse, and a Vietnamese man in a car outside.[1][2] They were detained at Togher and Bridewell Garda stations under section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996.[1]
On 1 April all four were charged. Lan Ngoc Le, 49, a Vietnamese national, and Chen Yan, 33, a Chinese national, each faced possession, possession for sale or supply and cultivation charges tied to the 29 March seizure, while Gui Yu Yang, 34, and Margaret Lee Wu, 45, faced possession and possession-for-supply charges at the same address; none replied when the charges were put to them.[3] Judge Leo Malone remanded Le and Yan in custody to Cork District Court on 3 April for the DPP’s directions, and bailed Wu and Yang to 30 April with conditions including Dublin residences and daily sign-on.[3]
