Three walk free from court over alleged €1m growhouse in Kilcolgan

Galway Bay fm newsroom – Three Vietnamese nationals have walked free from court over an alleged €950 thousand cannabis grow house in Kilcolgan.

All three spent 190 days on remand in custody after being charged last December.

34 year old Hai Ba Dau, 39 year old Minh Ba Dau and 44 year old Vo Thanh Sen were originally brought before Galway District Court in the first week of December.

They were charged in relation to the alleged cannabis grow house at The Ranch, Newtown, Kilcolgan.

On December 5th, Gardaí detected almost 1,200 cannabis plants with a street value of €950,400.

Each of the three faced a cannabis cultivation and cannabis possession charge after being arrested at the scene.

Since then, the three have appeared 15 times in court mainly via videolink from the Dochas centre women’s prison in Dublin and Castlerea prison.

Judge Alec Gabbett at Ennis District Court has told the two men and one woman that they are free to go as there was no longer in place a warrant detaining them in custody.

He made the order after Sgt Aiden Lonergan told him that the Director of Public Prosecutions has directed that no prosecution proceed in each of the three cases.

Solicitor for the three, Tara Godfrey previously told the court her three clients were the victims of human trafficking.