ABC Australia reports
Cannabis plants worth almost $58m have been seized from a property in northern New South Wales.
- Police have seized over 16,000 plants worth and estimated street value of $58 million
- Police believe the farm in northern NSW is part of a wider organised crime operation
- No-one was at the remote property when it was raided by police and the operators remain at large
On Tuesday, officers from the State Crime Command’s Drug and Firearms Squad, Richmond Police District and PolAir located 19 large greenhouses at a remote property at Ellangowan, south of Casino.
Police said 13 of the grow houses contained more than 16,000 cannabis plants at varying stages of maturity.
Officers also located a large amount of cannabis seedlings inside a shed on the property and seized other items for further forensic examination.
Officers spent yesterday dismantling the greenhouses and will destroy the plants.
Arrests yet to be made
Richmond police Detective Inspector Grant Erickson said no-one has been arrested yet in relation to the haul.
“When we executed our crime scene powers there was no one on the property, but obviously this is highly sophisticated and basically an example of organised crime within our area,” Detective Inspector Erickson said.
“The amount of money that these people profit from these kinds of commercial purposes is astronomical.”
“We are looking at the connection of not only this grow house or this farm but other farms that have been located across the state in conjunction with our state crime command.”
He said the farm was located in a remote area and appeared to have been operating for at least a year.
Detective Inspector Erickson said police were alerted to the farm by a member of the public.
“I’d like to thank the community, without their help giving us this type of information we wouldn’t have been able to get this result.”
Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-24/cannabis-haul-organised-crime/100858434