Man is jailed over unique drugs factory

Man is jailed over unique drugs factory

15 July 2015

A MAN has been jailed for his role in an underground drug factory near Castlewellan— the first of its kind found by police in Northern Ireland.

Mark Cavanagh (40), who played a “significant role” in the operation, was given a five year and seven month prison sentence at Downpatrick Crown Court sitting in Belfast this week.

Cavanagh, of India Street, Belfast, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce cannabis, conspiracy to possess the drug with intent to supply, possession of the drug with intent to supply, fraudulent evasion on imported goods and converting or concealing criminal property.

The offences were committed between July 1, 2012 and May 22, 2013 following a 12 month surveillance operation by the PSNI’s Organised Crime Branch.

Police believed Cavanagh played a “significant role’’. 

At the court hearing prosecutors said PSNI officers swooped on a purpose-built subterranean cannabis cultivating complex, secretly recording suspects inside the shed talking about the drugs operation.

Police surveillance teams had also observed two cars driving in convoy along the Derryneill Road at Ballyward, Castlewellan, on May 21, 2013.

One of the men on board was Mark Cavanagh. Surveillance footage showed Cavanagh at the scene and there were audio recordings of him in “the bowels’’ of the shed. Police searched the premises and found a “sophisticated and purpose built underground cannabis factory which was unique to Northern Ireland’’.

The shed consisted of an above ground area with equipment to grow cannabis, then planks and blocks to conceal an underground area, which police believed had been used for a long time for cultivating the plants.

Inside officers uncovered a pit leading into three separate “nurseries” with cannabis plants at various stages gf growth. 

Judge Brian Sherrard said a total of 700 plants were recovered.

The judge ordered the defendant to serve half his sentence in custody and the remainder on licence following his release from prison.

One of the main aggravating features of the case, added the judge, was that Cavanagh had only been out of 

prison 18 months for a robbery conviction when he became involved.

Judge Sherrard told Cavanagh, who was assessed as being a high risk of re-offending: “You should be in no doubt about the views of parliament and society and accordingly, the attitude of the court to these drug offences. At the time of the these offences you were effectively on licence for the robbery conviction.’’