BEIJING: Two Chinese men have been remanded to custody allegedly involved in a multi-million pound cannabis smuggling operation.
Appearing in the dock of Newtownards Magistrates’ Court were 34-year-old Zhenchao Chen and Baosen Zhao, 53, jointly charged with importing class B cannabis and conspiring with four co-accused “and others” to unlawfully supply cannabis on dates between 1 January this year and 24 March this year.
The importation charges arise after officers from Organised Crime Branch recovered £800,000 of super strength cannabis known as ‘skunk’ along with cash during searches in Belfast, Greenisland, Bangor, Newtownards and Ballywalter.
Eight others have also been held in Italy following raids on three cannabis factories by anti-Mafia officers in the Carabiniere in the Prato and Bologna areas with the PSNI describing those who have been arrested as “significant members of a crime gang” and it is understood that the gang has successfully smuggled large amounts of herbal ‘skunk’ cannabis in from Italy.
At Ards on Saturday Chen, with an address at Annadale Flats in south Belfast, was further charged with cultivating cannabis at a property on the Newry Road, Mullaghbawn and possessing the class B drug with intent to supply on dates between 1 January and 1 April this year.
Those charges come after police uncovered a drugs factory outside Newry and seized 530 cannabis plants, said to be worth around £275,000 and a man arrested during the raid, Vietnamese man 40-year-old Tien Duc, was set to appear in Newry Magistrates’ Court also on Saturday charged in connection with the find.
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