Five men have been remanded in custody after they were charged in connection with the discovery of €640,000 worth of drugs in a cannabis "grow house" in Co Cork on Monday.
The five Chinese nationals were each charged with three offences relating to the discovery of some 800 cannabis plants at the converted warehouse in Rathcormac in North Cork.
Each man was charged with possession of cannabis, possession of cannabis for sale or supply and cultivation of cannabis at Mondaniel Business Park, Rathcormac on November 19th.
Jian Zhong Yu (36), Liang Lu Wang (27), Yantuan Zheng (34), Xinyu He (32) and Ming Feng Chen (31) were all brought before Midleton District Court this evening.
Evidence of arrest, charge and caution were given by five gardaí and details of their replies to the various charges were given by the five officers.
Insp Eoin Healy said gardaí were objecting to bail in relation to each of the five because of the seriousness of the charges and the lack of ties between the five and Ireland.
Insp Healy said gardaí also wanted to carry out further inquiries to establish that the five accused are who they say they are as none had any identification papers on them.
The court heard that some of the men were of No Fixed Abode while others told gardaí that they lived in Dublin but were unable to furnish more detailed addresses.
Solicitors for the five said they were reserving their position in relation to bail and all five accused applied for free legal and promised to file statements of means.
Insp Healy applied to have all five remanded to appear at Mallow District Court and Judge Brian Sheridan granted the application, remanding all five accused in custody.
The five men who were assisted in court by an interpreter did not speak during the hearing which lasted for approximately 45 minutes.
The men were remanded until next Tuesday.
