Seven years each for Tallinn two-storey grow with 54 kg of cannabis
An Estonian court sentenced Rain Viiralt and Ermo Saar to seven years each after police found a two-storey indoor grow with 253 plants and 54 kg of cannabis near a Tallinn school in January 2025.
Northern Prefecture police searched a house in Tallinn’s Uus Maailm district on 13 January 2025
and found a two-storey indoor cannabis grow with 253 plants a short walk from a gymnasium.[1][2][3]They seized54 kilograms of cannabis in plants and sale-ready product, which they valued at more
than half a million euros at retail prices.[1][2][3]
A neighbour had reported the smell of cannabis and covered windows.[1][2][3]Prosecutors charged
men aged 39 and 48 with large-quantity drug handling and unlawful cannabis cultivation as a
group; both had been held since the arrests.[1][2][3]A preliminary hearing was set for
13 August 2025 at Harju County Court.[1][2][3]
Later reporting named them as Rain Viiralt, 39, and Ermo Saar, 48, and placed the grow between
a gymnasium and a nursery in a rented building marked for demolition.[4][5]A court found both
guilty of unlawful cultivation and handling of cannabis in a group and sentenced each to seven
years in prison, counted from the 13 January 2025 detention.[5]The court did not accept the
prosecution’s large-gain valuation based on the full 54 kg and treated under 12 kg as proven for
that element, according to a write-up of the Delfi court report.[5]
Photos and video
Police photograph of the Tallinn indoor cannabis grow published with the August 2025 report. Photo: Police and Border Guard Board via Postimees.Photo details
420Eesti420eesti.eeETArchived copyKohus mõistis Tallinna kesklinna kahekorruselise kanepikasvanduse rajanud mehed 7 aastaks vangi
Open questions the AI reported
The calendar date of the judgment is not given beyond April 2026 reporting; 30 April is the date of the secondary write-up that states the seven-year terms.
Police counted 253 plants and 54 kg including plants and sale-ready cannabis; the court later treated under 12 kg as proven for the large-gain charge, per the secondary report.
420Eesti summarises Delfi's Aleksander Pihlak reporting and is not an independent court record.
A third suspect identified only as RR was said to face a separate investigation that had not reached court.
Police detained a 30-year-old and a 28-year-old man in Harju County on 3 November 2026 on suspicion of selling drugs, including cannabis, in Tartu and Tartu County. A court remanded both in custody, and searches of their cars and the older man's Tartu home turned up drugs, drug-handling items and a weapon-like object with cartridges.
Estonia's Tax and Customs Board stopped nearly 79 kilograms of narcotic and psychotropic substances crossing the border in the first nine months of 2026, with cannabis and cannabis products the largest share at 42.7 kilograms. The board put the haul at hundreds of thousands of doses and said new psychoactive substance seizures had more than doubled on the same period of 2025.
Police in Tallinn arrested a 27-year-old Uzbek citizen suspected of large-scale drug dealing through Telegram and stash locations. Officers found mixed narcotics including cannabis and hashish in his rented flat, and a court ordered him held in custody during the investigation.
Harju County Court sentenced Meelis Pähnat to four and a half years and Serafim Gerzuni to five years (nine months immediate) on 2 September 2026 after police found about 30 kg of cannabis and buds at a professional grow in a rented distillery building at Valli manor, Kose.
Charged 2Cannabis 30 kgPrison 4.5 years and 5 years (nine months immediate for Gerzuni)
