Police op nets $40 million in cannabis

File photo / Northern Advocate

Hawke's Bay police were today mopping up the last stages of a major drug-targeting operation across the region which has netted about $40 million of cannabis and resulted in dozens of arrests.

The two-week operation has seen property searches and arrests from Wairoa in the north down to Central Hawke's Bay.

It was understood a team of detectives was in Waipukurau this morning as part of the operation.

The latest raids echo a major operation carried out by Eastern District police last February.

Like last year's operation police were pleased with the recent results, and the blow it had dealt to the drug underworld.

While the full details were not available police did confirm the operation had resulted in the seizure of about 12,000 plants with a street value of around $40m.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Foster of the Napier CIB was reported as saying the number of plants seized was up on last year.

"We are certainly happy we have got 12,000 plants out of the system and arrested a number of people," he said.

While a complete list of arrests had not been released it was understood more than 40 people had been arrested.

Last year's operation saw 10,500 cannabis plants seized and 47 people arrested.

As they did last year, police targeted mainly rural areas where some growers had used established fields of plants like maize and corn to disguise their plots.

The operations are effectively annual affairs aimed at denting the drug trade.

In March 2009 a fortnight-long "hunt and destroy" operation throughout Hawke's Bay and Gisborne saw about 40,000 plants destroyed and 260 people arrested.

Firearms and drug-making utensils were also seized.

The seasonal operations are part of what police said was an on-going focus on the drug trade and the public were being encouraged to pass on any information about possible drug dealing, or if they saw any suspicious activity.