GARDAI are hunting a dopey drugs gang after discovering a botched cannabis growing operation with no drugs.

Detectives were delighted when 150 plants were found hidden in two grow houses at the rear of a home in rural Co Donegal.

Officers found the blooming plants up a lane near the village of Kilmacrennan.

But those behind the operation hadn't done their homework. All the plants were male.

Male plants are usually dumped early into the cultivation process because they don't contain any of the chemicals which give the user the 'high'.

It now means gardai have had to downgrade the value of the seizure from €120,000 – to nothing. "There wasn't enough cannabis leaf for a single joint," one source revealed.

Some of the plants may have taken up to a year to grow.

Gardai seized various equipment including heat lamps, gardening tools and boxes of the fertiliser MiracleGro.

It's understood gardai have interviewed one man and wish to talk to at least three others.

A file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) recommending prosecution for the attempted cultivation of cannabis.

However, those behind the operation may have spared themselves some time behind bars. Anyone found with €120,000 of cannabis can expect to get seven years in prison.

"It won't spare any blushes, but it will spare them some jail time," said a legal source.

Irish Independent