Cowboy Paradise owner Michael Kevin Milne. Photo / Hokitika Guardian
More than four years after police discovered an underground bunker beneath ‘Cowboy Paradise’, the two men involved in the secret drug operation have been found guilty. Senior crime reporter Sam Sherwood reports.
Nestled deep in the thick green bush and scrub on the South Island’s wild West Coast lies Cowboy Paradise.
Billed by owner Mike ‘Cowboy’ Milne as “the lost city of the Wild West!”, the 700ha property has a backpackers lodge, bar, restaurant, and shooting range.
A large United States Confederate flag is pinned on the wall of a common room, complete with a dancer’s pole, and a poster of former US President Donald Trump.
“You won’t find anything like it in New Zealand,” the business boasts.
“It’s a place to escape and take your mind away from reality, it offers you the chance to be a cowboy or cowgirl for the day.”
The accommodation facility lies at the top of the West Coast Wilderness Cycle Trail and has been a popular stop for bike riders and other tourists.
But in 2019, a different kind of money-making enterprise caught the attention of the police who uncovered a large underground bunker beneath a shipping container.
Inside the bunker, accessible only through a hidden trap door cut into the floor of the container, was a sophisticated cannabis-growing operation that officers estimated was bringing in about $1 million a year.
Last week, more than four years after police raided the place, a jury in the Greymouth District Court found Michael Kevin Milne, 68, and Anthony Wayne Harris, 77, guilty of several charges between them including cultivating and selling cannabis between 2017 to 2019. Harris delivered the cannabis from the West Coast to Christchurch to be sold.
Milne built Cowboy Paradise in 2012 about a 40-minute drive from Hokitika, capitalising on allowing users of the cycle trail to stay.
The accommodation has seven en-suite units available, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided. Guests using the trail could also stop for food or a drink but were asked to bring cash.
There are more than 160 reviews for Cowboy Paradise on Tripadvisor with an average score of 3.5.
One reviewer says Milne, who they referred to as “Mr Cowboy Paradise”, was an “extremely aggressive abusive person”.
They claimed Milne “swore violently” at their wife because they arrived to stay before the arrival time of 3pm, which they were unaware of.
Throughout their stay, Milne was “aggressively rude to us”.
“We felt unsafe in his presence,” the reviewer said.
“Considering we had to pay $250 to stay there, plus $66 for meals and a beer, we knew we deserved much better service.
“I would not recommend to anyone that you consider staying there.”
Another reviewer said Milne was “unfriendly” and “aggressive”.
“Told us to F off as we didn’t buy breakfast when we stayed (it didn’t say anywhere we had to. We bought dinner the night before and just wanted to get on the trail).”
Another said to “avoid like the plague if you don’t want to be subjected to a barrage of foul-mouthed conspiracy theories, aggressive mannerisms, and general BS”.
Others were more positive.
One person who stayed with a biking group said Milne was “welcoming”, and cooked a great meal by himself for the group of 14.
“We had a brilliant night, lots of fun and laughter, the rooms were clean and comfortable, shower pressure awesome.”
Another person said they’d received a “wonderful welcome” from Milne and “a few laughs”. They highly recommended it.
“Great stories and banter. Mike has his views but don’t be afraid to express yours. Remember everyone has a background story. If you get to hear Mike’s, it’s worth a listen. He’s a legend in the area and I bet he has a heart of gold, just give him a chance.”
Reviews on Cowboy Paradise’s website are similarly positive.
One review, which had no name attached, said they’d read “mixed reviews” of the place before visiting but found it was the “highlight” of their four-day ride.
“I see in some reviews, some ‘out of touch individuals’ highlighted the Confederate flag on the wall as some sort of pro-slavery ‘sign’. What a complete load of BS. Having spoken to the staff, I can assure those misguided individuals that the staff are actually free to come and go as they please, they get paid, and believe it or not they enjoy working at Cowboy so all is well.
“If you are planning to ride the West Coast Wilderness trail, and you can handle straight-up people and enjoy crossing paths with folk from all walks of life, make sure you stay at Cowboy Paradise, and make the effort to talk to Mike and his team. If however you are one of those ‘easily, and eternally offended’ types then maybe you should ride on out of town.”
Several others also referred to Cowboy Paradise as the “highlight” of the trail.
Police alleged that during the construction of Cowboy Paradise, Milne had a large underground bunker built beneath a shipping container that was placed above the structure. The bunker was in a separate clearing several hundred metres from the accommodation complex.
The bunker was about 20m by 12m in size (estimated to be about twice the size of an average house) and constructed of reinforced concrete walls and roof with large steel beams also providing strength. The underground room was, police alleged, purpose-built to be concealed from view and was only accessible through the hidden trap door cut into the floor of the shipping container.
Court documents alleged that after completing construction of the underground bunker Milne continued to grow cannabis for several years after establishing an “elaborate hydroponic system” under lights powered by a large commercial diesel generator moved to the site. The generator powered a large number of pumps, lighting, heaters, fan, and extraction system.
There were 12 separate growing bays constructed within the room to allow cannabis to be grown at the various stages of its life cycle and ensure an ongoing supply was always available.
Police estimated that each bay area was capable of producing a minimum of three grow cycles per year.
In May 2019 police began investigating Milne and Harris. As part of the investigation, dubbed Operation Heron, they believed Milne was providing Harris with harvested and dried cannabis each week. Between 2.26kg to 4.53kg of cannabis was then transported by Harris to purchasers in Christchurch where it was sold.
At the trial, the court heard that a police special tactics group entered Cowboy Paradise undetected and under the cover of darkness three times as part of the investigation.
Constable Glen Collins told the court he was one of two police officers to enter the bunker for the first time on July 16, 2019.
As reported by the Hokitika Guardian during the trial, Collins travelled to the West Coast as part of a team of officers.
Three officers rode bicycles through the site during the day and at night they re-entered the property by foot, armed and wearing camouflage clothing, with night vision equipment.
It was Collins’ job once inside the bunker to document what was found and what he saw.
Collins entered the bunker three times in total including visits on August 8 and August 22. On the second visit, he took a video on his cellphone, which was later shown to a jury.
He said each time the officers visited the bunker they were armed. The officers who were outside the bunker kept guard, watching for “early warning signs”, the Hokitika Guardian reported.
Photos from inside the bunker showed some of the growing bays, with the plants in various stages and sizes. Collins told the court there was a nursery and a number of named plants such as Northern Lights, Banana Kush, and Gorilla Glue. The plants had different descriptions. The Hokitika Guardian reported Collins told the jury one of the descriptions was “strong ASF”, which he thought meant “strong as f***”.
About four months into the police investigation on September 9, 2019, Harris was arrested.
After his arrest, Harris called Milne and told him he’d been arrested.
The two men then came up with a plan to hide their activities in case police began investigating where the cannabis came from.
It was agreed that Milne would remove all the living plants from the underground bunker in case police were onto him and came to search his address.
Any harvestable plants would be hidden so the cannabis material could still be sold, however, the remaining smaller plants would be buried away from Milne’s property.
Milne told Harris he would have to leave the growing equipment in place, but he didn’t think that would cause any problems for him.
They also discussed concealing the trapdoor leading to the bunker so that police wouldn’t be able to find it, moving the generator away from the bunker, and covering it where it had been placed.
Milne would keep six cannabis “clones” but would hide them somewhere so police couldn’t find them. This would allow them to continue the operation if police did not search the address.
A week later police arrived at Cowboy Paradise and entered the bunker.
The full hydroponic system including lighting, heating, and ventilation systems was still in place but all of the cannabis plants had been removed.
There was a large bucket inside the bunker which contained 543g of cannabis plant material.
A search was carried out throughout the Cowboy Paradise complex, and police found six small cannabis plants, which they believed were the “clones” Harris and Milne had referred to in their phone conversation, growing in pots in one of the outbuildings.
It would take four and a half years for the trial to get underway in the Greymouth District Court and for the alleged facts of the case to be revealed to the public for the first time.
The Hokitika Guardian reported that Crown prosecutor Cameron Stuart told the court in his opening address it was a “sophisticated, commercial cannabis growing operation”, and said the amount of cannabis head the bunker could generate would be 136kg a year with an annual revenue of $1m.
Stuart said a local electrician estimated the generator powering the property was running at 52.54KW at a full load - equivalent to the power consumption of a commercial building.
Harris’ lawyer, Marcus Zintl claimed the weapons found were for self-defence. Stuart said a forensic accountant had looked at Harris’ bank accounts. There were nearly 250 cash deposits totalling more than $460,000 over seven years.
Zintl said in his opening address that Harris was 77 and a semi-retired gold prospector.
He did not dispute knowing Milne or knowing that he was growing cannabis. The dispute was around the allegation he sold cannabis on Milne’s behalf or regularly transported it to Canterbury.
At the end of the trial, the jury found Milne guilty of two counts of cultivating cannabis between 2017 and 2019, one of selling cannabis, and another of possession of cannabis for sale between 2017 and 2019, the Hokitika Guardian reported.
He was acquitted of a charge of growing cannabis, and another of selling the drug, between 2013 and 2016.
Harris was found not guilty of one charge of selling cannabis between 2013 and 2016, but guilty of two counts of selling the drug between 2017 and 2019.
He was also found guilty of unlawful possession of various restricted weapons including a taser and pepper spray, as well as ammunition that was found at his house and in his vehicle.
The Hokitika Guardian reported Judge Paul Keller said after the verdict that the scale of offending was “significant” and warned Milne and Harris to prepare for sentences of imprisonment.
Both men were granted bail until sentencing. A date for sentencing is yet to be confirmed.
The Herald contacted Milne to do an interview before the trial. He agreed and said the Herald could come and visit him at Cowboy Paradise. However, after speaking to his lawyer, he said he was not able to do an interview.
The Herald visited Cowboy Paradise and Milne allowed drone photos to be taken but didn’t want any photos taken inside the buildings.
“You’ve got no idea what you’re dealing with,” he told the Herald, suggesting it was “way out of your depth”.
“There have been hundreds of newspapers through here. I’ve had f****** articles for Africa, and not one of them has been on a positive note, not one. So why should I think yours is any different?” he said.
“You’re the third, or fourth, or fifth different outfit to come in and every one of them has done their best to f*** with me. So why should you be any different?”
He said he was going to publish a book about what had happened and hoped there would be a movie.
“This story will blow your mind when you hear it,” he said.
“To refresh yourselves you need to go back and study the Ureweras and study Kim Dotcom and then you’ll understand a little about what happened here. I’m not saying no more,” he added.
“You’ve got to realise that the Government has a huge influence on the courts and the police and politically. They’re corrupt, and when you can get your head around that you’ll finally start understanding it.”
He said the world was a “corrupt place”, and declined to speak any further about his case, but said he may be able to talk after the trial.
“I’m happy to tell the story one day.”
Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
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