A PAIR of Barrhead drug dealers who tried to hide their illicit trade behind a legitimate business are facing lengthy jail terms – after cops busted their £160,000 cannabis farm.

Sean Connelly, 47, and Sean Paul McGowan, 46, pretended to run a white goods business from a unit in West Arthurlie Industrial Estate.

But the business was merely a veneer for the duo’s drug dealing exploits – which saw them producing cannabis and storing speed in the Lochlibo Road lock-up.

The front half of the unit was kitted out as a white goods store but the space was bare as there were few items on sale.

The real money-making side of the business was hidden behind a partition wall within the unit – a sophisticated cannabis farm which contained 408 growing plants, worth around £163,200.

Their cannabis growing set-up included fans, heat lamps and a host of other equipment needed to grow the plants so they could be harvested and sold on.

The crooked duo had bypassed the electricity meter within the property to ensure they did not have to shell out for the huge amount of power it took to operate their cultivation.

But Police became aware of their enterprise and searched the property in August 2014, bringing their lucrative illegal business to an end.

They denied they were responsible for the cannabis farm and tried to pin the blame on another man they on the internet.

They claimed, through their solicitors, they had met the man on Gumtree, had sublet half of the lock-up to him, were unaware what he was doing in it and could not get in contact with him.

But a police officer who searched the unit said “the smell [of the plants] was very strong” and said that, when he searched through the area where there drugs were being grown, there was nobody else there.

The officer added: “It is quite common for people to hide in it [the growing area] to avoid detection or protect it“It was behind a partition wall.“There were sounds of fans and signs of heat lamps.”

After the raid cannabis farm was discovered by officers, engineers from Scottish Power were called in to make sure the unit was safe as the electricity meter had been bypassed.

Officers stood guard at the unit while further tests, including forensic investigations, were carried out.

During forensic tests, And DNA belonging to Connelly and McGowan was found within the cultivation and proved to be damning evidence against them.

Connelly had signed the lease, which was witnessed by McGowan, to rent the industrial unit, on May 21, 2014.

Connelly was also the electricity account holder for the property, having taken out an account with BES Commetcial Electricity Limited, and received an invoice on August 13, 2014, which was confiscated by police.

It took police officers probing the drug ring four days to fully dismantle the set-up the pair had used to grow the cannabis.

But it took the jury at Paisley Sheriff Court of five men and ten women just an hour to find both men guilty over the £160,000 cannabis farm, and - and £3,094 worth of amphetamine that was found in the office fridge in the office.

Connelly, of Cranhill, Glasgow, and McGowan, of Provanmill, Glasgow, sat with their heads in their hands as they were told the jury had found them guilty of breaking Section 4(2)(a) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 by producing cannabis at the lock-up between May 21, 2014, and August 19, 2014.

They were also convicted of being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs by having amphetamine, in breach of Section 4(3)(b) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and Section 31 and Paragraph 11(1) of Schedule 7 of the Electricity Elecetricty Act 1989 by bypassing the meter at the unit.

Sheriff David Pender released both men on bail, called for background reports ahead of sentencing and adjourned the case until next month. They could be facing jail terms of up to five years Both Connelly and McGowan could be caged for as long as five years when they return to the dock to learn their fate.