£900k drug haul at tiny island port

Huge cannabis find on Bute

A POLICE operation yielding drugs with a street value of almost £1million sounds like the plotline from a gritty urban drama.

Yet the huge haul of cannabis was recovered yesterday in the coastal backwater of Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute.

Officers revealed they found 10kg (about 22lb) of herbal cannabis, worth around £100,000, on Monday afternoon after they stopped a white Renault Trafic van on Marine Road.

During a series of later raids on flats in the village’s Castle Street, they found more than 2,000 cannabis plants under cultivation with a potential street value of £800,000.

Detective Inspector Douglas Wilson, from Dumbarton CID, said: ‘Drug cultivations and recoveries are not limited to big cities, any town can be affected. Information from the local community is something that is vital to the force when tackling drugrelated crime.’

Three men, two aged 40 and one aged 39, have been arrested and are being held in police custody in connection with the find. A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.

All three are expected to appear at Greenock Sheriff Court later today.

The excitement triggered by the police activity has only added to the exotic history of Port Bannatyne, which is usually more famous for its tourist attractions, such as the Russian restaurant in a harbour popular with passing yachts and the unusual 13-hole golf course.

The port was conceived as a planned village in 1801 by the local laird, Lord Bannatyne of Kames Castle.

He was keen to build a small trading harbour at the head of Kames Bay in an attempt to rival the popularity of its near neighbour Rothesay, some two miles to the south.

The village was known as Kamesburgh until 1860, when the Marquess of Bute purchased that part of the island and renamed the settlement Port Bannatyne in honour of its association with the Bannatyne family.