exposed | 

Violent Chinese organised crime gang operating in Ireland linked to cannabis grow-houses

Crime cash is used to buy luxury goods which are then sent back to China

Today at 07:58

A violent Chinese organised crime gang operating in Ireland ran a series of cannabis grow-houses and abducted fellow nationals.

Details of the underworld network emerged as the Criminal Assets Bureau took a case against Yan Yan Fan and her ex-boyfriend Guang Yin Wang.

Officers gave evidence of separate grow-house operations that were discovered around the country linked to the pair.

The biggest seizure was at Henrietta Place in Dublin in November 2012 where 1,490 plants worth €1.1 million were found.

Gardai believed 2,500 other plants were harvested before they got there.

Yan Yan Fan, who was not prosecuted, was leasing the building but denied all knowledge of the drugs stash following her arrest.

She was also linked to a previous grow-house at Kilrush, Co Mayo where cannabis worth €120,000.

A man arrested at the scene Jia Zhong Zu had a mobile phone which used the same number as Fan used on ads with a property rental website.

He was arrested again at a business park in Rathcormac, Co Cork where cannabis €698,896 was seized.

A vehicle registered to Yan Yan Fan was previously seen by gardai in the Cork area some months beforehand.

At both Henrietta Place and Rathcormac it emerged in later court hearings that men had been left to tend the plants to work off debts.

Zhong Zu fled the jurisdiction when Wang obstructed gardai trying to arrest him in 2013 at Parnell over the abduction and serious assault of Chinese man who was left dumped in the Phoenix Park.

In that case the alleged victim’s sister got a telephone call demanding €59,000 to be paid over.

A fourth cannabis grow-house was then uncovered in March 2021at Hazelbury Park, Dublin 15 with plants worth €400,000.

In that case Guang Ying Wang was arrested and questioned.

The gang used the ‘Daigou’ system which is an informal bank transfer system used in China to avoid official restrictions.

Crime cash is used to buy luxury goods which are then sent back to China and money from their sale is sent back through the official banking system as gifts from family and friends.

A senior in her evidence said that she believed that details provided don’t reflect Ms Fan’s involvement in crime despite having no criminal convictions in this country.

The officer added that both Fan and Wang “have benefited substantially from their criminal activities.”

“I further say that Yan Yan Fan’s attempts to disguise the funding and ownership of a number of properties … demonstrates an attempt to launder the proceeds of this criminal conduct.”

CAB’s Chief Officer Michael Gubbins in his evidence described her as “a significant member of an Organised Crime Group which primarily involved in the cultivation and supply of cannabis on a wholesale basis.

He added that her role was “sourcing and managing the properties whereby the cannabis is cultivated and laundering the proceeds.”

Ms Fan who represented herself in the High Court, denied any involvement in crime.

Guang Ying Wang, who did not contest the case and is currently in prison in Ireland for drug offences, was described as the grow house manager and involved in the sale and supply of cannabis.