Gardaí seize 900 cannabis plants in Stillorgan and Kells grow factories
A car stop in Stillorgan on 26 July 2010 led Gardaí to a four-bedroom cannabis factory and, the next morning, to a second factory in Kells. Almost 1,000 plants and 8 kg of cannabis herb worth over €800,000 were seized and four people arrested.
🇮🇪 Mount Anville Wood, Stillorgan, Co Dublin; Headford Road, Kells, Co Meath · Ireland
Gardaí investigating drug dealing in the Blackrock area stopped and searched a car on Drummartin Link Road, Stillorgan, at about 1 p.m. on 26 July 2010.[1][2]They recovered 5 kg of cannabis grass from the boot and arrested the 33-year-old male driver.[1][2][3]
Later that day officers searched a house on Mount Anville Wood, Stillorgan, where they found the entire upstairs in use as a cannabis factory, with a pot-grow system, high-density lighting, reflective wall coverings and ventilation in each of four bedrooms.[1][2][3]About 500 cannabis plants and several more kilos of cannabis grass were discovered there, and a 33-year-old woman was arrested at the scene.[1][2][3]Two follow-up searches in Clondalkin and Crumlin produced no seizures or arrests.[1][2]
In the early hours of 27 July, officers searched a house on Headford Road, Kells, Co Meath, as part of the same investigation and seized 400 cannabis plants, 3 kg of cannabis herb and cultivation equipment; the house had a bypassed electricity supply and an air extraction system.[4][3]Two males aged 16 and 21 were arrested and detained at Kells Garda Station.[4]
The Garda put the value of the Stillorgan seizures at about €600,000 and the Irish Times valued the combined seizure of almost 1,000 plants at over €800,000, describing both premises as elaborate indoor factories.[1][3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Garda valued the Stillorgan seizures alone at about €600,000 while the Irish Times put the combined seizure at over €800,000; this report uses the combined figure.
No charges or court outcomes for the four arrested people were reported in the opened sources.
The separate Ninth Lock Road seizure of 7 kg of cannabis herb mentioned by the Irish Times is a different event left out here.
No verifiable photograph of either factory with a recoverable direct image address was found in the opened sources.
Customs officers and gardaí searched business and residential properties in Cashel and Thurles, County Tipperary, and seized a large quantity of suspected cannabis-infused products. No weight, value, arrests or suspected offence were reported.
Gardaí found a cannabis grow house at a home in Ballymakeera, Co Cork, and seized 122 mature plants and about 1 kg of loose cannabis with a combined estimated value of €117,600. A man in his 40s was arrested.
Gardaí searching two homes in Ballynagore, Co Westmeath, on 31 December 2025 dismantled sophisticated cannabis growhouses and seized plants and herb worth an estimated €2.25 million; no arrests were reported in the accounts opened.
Gardai searching an industrial premises in Donegal town on 21 February 2024 found a large growhouse with 500 cannabis plants and 13.5 kg of cannabis herb, valued at about 631,500 euro. No arrests were made and the drugs were sent for forensic analysis.
