Australian record set with seizure of $60M worth of cannabis ... and counting
Submitted by Cannabis News on Wed, 01/19/2022 - 13:42
Six people charged after police find illegal grow so big it requires “attention from workers seven days a week.”
Six people in Australia now face drug charges after police discovered a massive illegal cannabis grow-op that housed at least 19,082 plants with an estimated street value of about AU$67 million ($60 million).
The national record was set during a raid earlier this week by Strike Force Harthouse, made up of detectives from the State Crime Command’s Drug and Firearms Squad and assisted by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC). Strike Force Harthouse’s goal is to “investigate the cultivation and supply of cannabis across New South Wales,” notes a statement from the NSW Police.
Following extensive investigations, the detectives executed a crime scene warrant at a rural property in Dandry being used for large-scale weed cultivation at 8 a.m. on Jan. 18.
“So far during the search, police have seized 19,082 cannabis plants, with an estimated potential street value of nearly AU$66.8 million ($60 million), with the operation expected to continue over the coming days,” the NSW Police reports.
Time will tell if takes as long as five days, the length of time U.K. authorities needed to dismantle and clear out the thousands of marijuana plants in a hidden grow inside a warehouse.
The massive find in Australia, for its part, resulted in six people, namely five men and one woman, being arrested. Ranging in age from 23 to 42, all were initially refused bail.
The accused have been charged with cultivating a prohibited plant (large commercial quantity cannabis), knowingly taking part in cultivation (large commercial quantity cannabis) and participating in a criminal group contributing criminal activity.
Rules around cannabis vary from state to state in Australia, although it is prohibited federally. According to Mondaq, drug cultivation penalties in NSW range from two to 24 years imprisonment, depending on, among other things, quantity, number of plants and if being grown illegally for commercial purposes.
Growing a large commercial quantity, for example, could lead to 20 years imprisonment and/or a AU$550,000 ($495,000) fine, the information notes.
Detective Superintendent John Watson, commander of the NSW Police’s drug and firearms squad, commented on the sheer size of the illegal operation. “About 90,000 square metres of land has been illegally cleared at this property to make way for more than 20 greenhouses containing cannabis plants at various stages of maturity,” Watson notes in the police statement.
“In terms of scale, this is one of the largest and most commercial cannabis enterprises we’ve seen, with significant infrastructure, including two large dams, commercial generators, earthmoving equipment, across multiple sites, all of which require attention from workers seven days a week,” he reports.
Police officials are continuing to work with Australia’s Department of Home Affairs to determine the visa status of members of the group.
“This particular cannabis crop has resulted in the yield of around 11.5 tonnes of high-end cannabis. This was a sophisticated processing plant with the sole purpose of preparing the commodity for market,” state crime commander and the NSW Police’s assistant commissioner, Stuart Smith, says in the statement.
“Make no mistake, if this operation was not dismantled, the cash sales from this crop would have flowed through poker machines of regional pubs, clubs and casinos across the state, then sent offshore or used to fund other criminal activities,” Smith relays.
“It remains one of the highest priorities of NSW Police to dismantle the ability of criminals to obtain illicit proceeds and disrupt their operations, just as we’ve done yesterday,” he adds.
As part of Strike Force Harthouse, 51 people have been charged and 69,654 cannabis plants worth more than AU$217 million ($195 million) have been confiscated since the group’s inception in 2019.
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