Drug and gun bust bites boss

Signs of support. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The image of the Switched On Gardener as the victim of police overreaction has taken a knock after a store manager was sent to prison after illegal firearms and drugs were found.

Glenn Peter Kelly, 39, has been sentenced to two years' jail after being convicted of growing, selling and possessing cannabis - and possessing firearms.

Court documents show that police found a sawn-off .22 pistol and a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun when his house was raided. The shotgun was loaded.

Kelly's arrest was among 250 made by police as part of the two-year Operation Lime investigation.

The inquiry targeted Switched On Gardener stores and some other hydroponic suppliers across the country.

In the wake of the arrests, police were accused of overreacting to low-level personal cannabis use and of focusing on it instead of more damaging crime.

Kelly was manager of the Christchurch Switched On Gardener store at the time of the raids. He was pulled into the bust after selling two cannabis plants to an undercover police officer for $20.

He also gave another undercover officer two plants free of charge.

When police raided Kelly's home, they found a kilogram of cannabis and about 100 plants.

Officers also found 228 BZP pills and 92g of BZP powder. BZP was the active ingredient in the legal pill range which was banned in 2007.

The Switched On Gardener stores were allowed to reopen under tight controls after the raids.

Staff were allowed to sell only to shoppers who showed identification and allowed their name and address details to be recorded - a condition that was later dropped.

A Facebook support group opposing the police action and supporting the stores currently has more than 3700 supporters.