A Co Antrim man has gone on trial accused of being involved in running an illegal cannabis factory inside a disused pub.
Dean Gary Steven Harrison (28), of Carncoole House, Newtownabbey, denies charges of cultivating cannabis, causing criminal damage and dishonestly using electricity.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between October 8 and December 6 2019 in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim.
A jury at Belfast Crown Court sitting before Judge Fiona Bagnall heard that on December 5, 2019, police carried out a search under warrant at The Favourite Bar in Irish Quarter West.
"What was uncovered was a complicated and sophisticated cannabis growing operation, involving many plants and a lot of equipment inside a disused pub and a flat upstairs,'' said prosecution barrister Gareth Purvis.
He told the jury that the owner of the premises "was entirely innocent'' and had signed a tenancy agreement with a person for the apartment above his former pub.
"The criminal damage is caused by the rigging of these premises, holes were cut in the floor to facilitate equipment, there were facilities such as water, heat and light to grow the plants.''
Mr Purvis said "the electricity meter on the premises was bypassed to funnel off electricity to stop it being recorded on the meter and was then used to power the equipment to grow the cannabis plants''.
"There is no controversy or argument that these premises were used to grow cannabis. This trial centres on Mr Harrison's connection to the running of this illegal cannabis factory."
The jury heard that the point of entry to the disused pub was an emergency exit door on the ground floor.
The prosecutor said police recovered CCTV footage from a camera overlooking a rear yard of the bar which contained two months of images.
It showed various people coming and going, one of whom is Mr Dean Harrison. Three other people were also captured on the footage who have pleaded guilty to their involvement in this operation.
"These three are captured on the same footage at various times with Dean Harrison," the court heard.
"The prosecution case is that Dean Harrison was captured on this footage arriving into this rear yard and then leaving. He was captured on 23 occasions over this two month period.
"We say that this defendant was intimately involved in running this operation. There is no explanation for 23 visits to a bar which had been shut some time ago other than him being involved in the running of this cannabis factory.''
Mr Purvis said that during two separate police interviews, Harrison replied "no comment'' to all questions.
At hearing.