A £1.5m cannabis-growing operation discovered in north Belfast was set up under the guise of a fish wholesale company, the High Court has heard.
Prosecutors also revealed that a 25-year-old businessman accused of renting the warehouse on the Limestone Road is being investigated over similar illicit factories in Scotland and England.
Shahidullah Arghandabi, an Afghan national with an address at Popes Lane in London, faces charges of conspiracy to produce and supply Class B drugs.
Mr Justice McAlinden said: “On the face of it, this is a UK-wide cannabis production operation.”
The operation was uncovered on June 7 this year after the warehouse owner contacted the tenant to arrange an inspection visit.
A number of people were seen getting into a Renault van and leaving the yard before the landlord arrived, the court heard.
An examination of the premises revealed that it had been converted into an industrial-scale cannabis factory.
The purpose-built facilities included an accommodation area for at least four people, equipment and more than 1,000 plants.
Later that day police stopped a co-accused in Holywood, Co Down in the van containing bags full of cannabis.
Crown counsel Stephanie Boyd said the drugs seized have an overall estimated street value of £1.5m.
Arghandabi was detained and brought back to Belfast in August this year.
According to Mrs Boyd, he had negotiated a lease of the Limestone Road warehouse as part of his meat and fish wholesale firm.
“Police view him as the controller of the cultivation and a high-ranking member of an organised crime gang,” she said.
The barrister revealed that he is also under investigation in connection with other cannabis-growing operations disrupted in areas of Scotland and the south of England.
“There have been ongoing commercial cultivation in rented premises under the guise of (the wholesale company).”
Defence barrister Jonathan Browne told the court his client has spent the last 20 years in the UK.
Arghandabi’s application for bail was adjourned for checks to establish if he has an Afghan passport.
Citing concerns about a potential risk of flight, Mr Justice McAlinden said: “In an alleged commercial operation of this nature which is probably awash with money people can be spirited out of the county quite quickly.”