File for DPP over €120,000 Cork drug haul

Gardaí are to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecution after last night releasing without charge a 64-year-old Englishman arrested for questioning about a €120,000 drug seizure in west Cork.

The man was arrested at around 3pm when officers from the West Cork Divisional Drugs Squad raided a property near Church Cross outside Skibbereen and found 150 cannabis plants.

The plants, which were nearing maturity, had been growing in a field and gardaí believe that the recent warm weather in July had helped them mature.

The man was arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and brought to Bandon Garda station where he was questioned for more than four hours about the seizure.

He was released without charge shortly before 8pm and gardaí will now prepare a file on the matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions, a garda spokesman confirmed.

Meanwhile, the plants have been sent to Dublin to the State laboratory for analysis with the results to be included in the investigation file for the DPP.

Gardaí believe that the cannabis harvested from the plants was destined for the local drug market and that the growing operation may have been ongoing for some time.