Farmers, hunters and trampers are being urged to report any suspicious activity they may come across in isolated areas of Hawke's Bay and the greater Eastern District as police gear up to battle the cannabis growing season.
"It is under way," Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Foster of the Eastern Organised Crime Unit said yesterday.
"Cannabis crops are being tended at this time of year and there are often signs of activity that cause suspicion."
He said most growers tended to use rural farmland or bush in often-isolated and hard-to-access areas.
The movement of strange vehicles moving through rural backroads, and often parked up at roadsides, as well as unusual lights in bush and farm areas at night often gave away the activities of cannabis growers.