Police described him as leading a “chaotic and impulsive” lifestyle
A Co Antrim man was remanded into custody today accused of defrauding a quarry business out of £230,000 and involvement in a £500,000 underground cannabis farm.
Michael Andrew Campbell, 45, also appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on separate allegations of stealing a lorry worth £24,000 and driving while disqualified.
Police described him as leading a “chaotic and impulsive” lifestyle which involved being stopped on Wednesday while his Range Rover car was covered in crystal meth.
Campbell, of Ballyclare Road in Newtownabbey, had been charged with fraud by false representation, cultivating cannabis, theft and motoring offences.
The court heard he was detained as part of an investigation into the professionally constructed underground drug-growing factory discovered at a property in the Colane Road area of Lurgan, Co Armagh on June 10 this year.
Police located the facilities were located beneath a slurry tank in a shed housing around 600 pigs. Up to 300 cannabis plants with a potential street value in excess of £500,000 were seized and three men arrested at that stage.
Based on telecommunications data, a mobile phone attributed to Campbell was said to have been present near the scene on four occasions in the previous 12-week period.
An investigating detective also claimed he featured in two video clips thought to be from the facilities.
In one recording Campbell was allegedly heard counting cannabis buds lying on the floor and estimating they were worth up to £100,000, the court heard.
During the investigation into the drug-growing operation police received a separate report about a suspected scam against a landfill quarry located on the Upper Hightown Road in Newtownabbey.
An elderly director in the firm claimed Campbell had submitted fraudulent invoices for £232,350 in February this year, the court heard.
Examinations of the business account were said to have uncovered a number of suspicious transactions, including a £30,000 fee related to a planning application which the company insisted he had nothing to do with.
Another entry for nearly £23,000 related to payment for crushing stones at the quarry, sent to a contractor who stated he never received that money.
Campbell has been further charged with the theft of a tipper lorry in October this year. He allegedly lied to the truck’s owner by claiming to be a director at the quarry and offered to buy the vehicle.
“A price of £24,000 was agreed, but no money was received,” the detective said.
In September this year the owner’s son alerted him that the lorry was being advertised for sale on a buy and sell website.
Police detained Campbell on Corporation Street in Belfast on Wednesday – just a week after he had been disqualified from driving.
banned from getting behind the wheel of a car the previous week.
Opposing bail, the detective claimed Campbell is involved in serious and organised criminality at the higher end of the scale.
The court heard £230,000 from the suspected fraud was paid into his bank account but later moved elsewhere.
“Police are unable to determine where it has gone, and the injured party in the fraud is an elderly, vulnerable 79-year-old lady,” the detective stated.
District Judge Anne Marshall was also told Campbell is now heavily in debt and has been served with an eviction notice for owing £85,000 in rent arrears on his apartment.
“His personal life appears chaotic and impulsive,” the detective added.
“When stopped yesterday… the back seat of the vehicle was covered in crystal meth.”
Defence solicitor Mark Austin argued Campbell maintains he is innocent of any fraud.
“He asserts he was in a business relationship with the complainant and any transactions were not carried out by misrepresentation,” the lawyer submitted.
Stressing that his client was not arrested at the scene of the cannabis operation, Mr Austin questioned the reliability of an alleged connection through cell-site analysis.
He added: “In relation to the theft charge, Mr Campbell asserts that it was his lorry, he owned it.”
But refusing bail due to the risk of re-offending, Judge Marshall remanded the accused in custody until December 11.
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