€500,000 cannabis factory found in Ashford farmhouse as gang flees
Gardaí raided a rural farmhouse at Cullenmore outside Ashford on 28 October 2010 and seized over 1,000 cannabis plants worth an estimated €500,000. Suspected gang members fled the property and no arrests were made.
Gardaí from the Wicklow Division and the Garda National Drugs Unit searched a house in the Ashford area on 28 October 2010 as part of an ongoing operation and uncovered a cannabis growing operation.[1][2]The raided property was a large rented rural farmhouse at the Cullenmore bends outside the village of Ashford, and officers seized cannabis plants at various stages of growth with a potential street value of €500,000 subject to analysis.[1][2][3]
The factory held over 1,000 cannabis plants along with humidifiers, heaters and other drug-related equipment.[3]Garda sources believed an Asian gang was using the factory as a moneymaking operation to fund wider criminal activity.[3]People suspected of running the enterprise were at the property when officers arrived but escaped into the surrounding area despite pursuit by the Garda helicopter, and no arrests had been made.[3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
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.
