Three men have been charged in relation to the discovery of a underground ‘sophisticated cannabis farm’ with plants worth an estimated street value of £500k on Tuesday (June 10).

A 55-year-old man and a 27-year-old man have been charged with cultivating cannabis and are expected to appear in Lisburn Magistrates Court on Thursday, June 12.

A 66-year-old man has been charged with cultivating cannabis and permitting the production of a Class B controlled drug on premises. He is expected to appear before Craigavon Magistrates Court on Friday, June 27.

Police say as is usual procedure, all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service.

Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Organised Crime Branch have made three arrests and seized a large quantity of Class B controlled drugs following a search of a property in the Colane Road area of Aghagallon near Lurgan on Tuesday, 10th June.

placeholder image — Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Organised Crime Branch have made three arrests and seized a large quantity of Class B controlled drugs following a search of a property in the Colane Road area of Aghagallon near Lurgan on Tuesday, 10th June.

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In a statement earlier on Wednesday (June 11), police said detectives from the PSNI’s Organised Crime Branch had made three arrests and seized a large quantity of Class B controlled drugs following a search of a property in the Colane Road area of Aghagallon near Lurgan.

Detective Inspector Conor Sweeney, of the PSNI’s Organised Crime Branch, said: “This is the most sophisticated cannabis farm I have encountered.

"A substantial degree of engineering and investment has gone into the construction and concealment of this underground facility, which housed plants with an estimated street value of £500,000; however, this set-up is fundamentally dangerous and we have availed of the expertise of several partner agencies to make the site safe for officers to properly examine the scene and remove plants and equipment.

“Our investigation into the organised crime gang responsible for this farm will continue beyond these arrests. The motivation of criminal gangs is, and always has been, one thing - greed.

"They will happily exploit vulnerable people with addiction and debt issues in order to fuel this greed. As a police service, we rely heavily on the support of the public and need people to come forward with any information they have relating to such criminality.”

Anyone with information about suspected drug-dealing in their area is encouraged to contact police on the non-emergency number 101.