None of the communications recorded by undercover police officers at Switched on Gardener stores was consistent with the company being an organised criminal group which sold equipment to cannabis growers, a court has been told.
The trial of five men alleged to have spearheaded the operation has nearly ended in the Auckland District Court, with defence lawyers trying to convince the jury that the company's activities were all above board.
Switched on Gardener owner Michael Maurice Quinlan, general manager Peter John Bennett, distribution manager Andrew Barry Mai, South Island manager Paul Kenneth Barlow and business development manager Ricky Cochrane have denied charges of belonging to an organised criminal group and supplying equipment to supply cannabis.
Two firms owned by Quinlan, Stoneware 91 and Hydroponics Wholesalers, are also on trial.
The court has been given evidence that undercover police officers, who wore wires and posed as customers, bought marijuana plants from shop staff. But Quinlan and Bennett's lawyer, Paul Davison, QC, said none of these undercover recordings was consistent with the charges.