poledriver
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Aus - Gangs pay high price as police destroy marijuana crops
A POLICE crackdown on cannabis crops has cost "organised, sophisticated" criminal groups nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
Officers from the drug squad, helicopter wing and dog squad yesterday joined with regional officers trekking down fire trails and through gullies, cutting their way through rugged thickets of lantana and blackberry and into the bright sunlight of bush-based marijuana plantations.
Growers have cleared bush canopies to allow plants access to sunlight, fenced off growing areas with chicken wire and cyclone fencing, set up homemade dams feeding into drip pipe irrigation set-ups and sprinkled fertiliser liberally around their crops.
"A lot of work has gone into this," drug squad commander Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham said.
"If they put that amount of work into a proper job they'd make a lot of money."
Supt Bingham said the criminals behind the drug plantations were "highly sophisticated" - making use of advanced horticultural processes to refine their plants.
"They don't just throw some seeds and cut into bush. It's bloody hard work for them. But we're hard workers too," he said.
It is hard work for officers. Police trek and drive for hours to pull up plants in the harsh sunlight. Plants are stacked up and carried out, sometimes by 4WD, sometimes by helicopter, and taken back to the police command post at the "Green Base" - a makeshift set-up on an old Aussie Rules oval near Bellingen.
"We're not after the pot smoking hippie with a couple of plants for personal use," drug squad Supt Bingham said.
"We're after the organised criminal who is making money from these crops."
He said the quality and quantity of the plants demonstrated the growers were getting better at their trade.
"We're confiscating flowering heads that are dripping with resin," he said.
"The flowering bud, which they call the head, of some of these plants are 30cm long and 40cm round. These people know what they are doing."
While the crop eradications were costing growers big bucks, police said in many cases the criminals were long gone by the time police began the clearing operations.
POLICE MARIJUANA RAIDS:
27/11/11 - 2/12/11: Manning Great Lakes LAC (Coopernock, Bulga, Elands, Wallis Lake, Wooton, Coolongolook, Old Bar, Taree, Wang Wauk and Tuncurry) - $1.93 million (965 plants) in cannabis seized
15/01/12 - 20/01/12: Richmond LAC (Kippenduff, Rappville, Clearfield, Busby Flat, Mummulgum, Bulldog, Drake, Nimbin, Blue Knob, Kyogle and Tabulam) - $7.5 million (3,374 plants) in cannabis seized
26/02/12 - 01/03/12: Coffs / Clarence LAC (Coffs Harbour hinterland) - $6.6 million (3,321 plants) in cannabis seized
11/03/12 - 16/03/12: Mid North Coast LAC (regional sites near Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Macksville etc) - $4.3 million (2,154 plants) in cannabis seized
18/11/12 - 23/11/12: New England LAC (Diehard, Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Carrai, Glen Elgin) - $6.9 million (3,450 plants) in cannabis seized
09/12/12 - 14/12/12: Coffs/Clarence LAC (Bellingen, Tyringham, Nymboida, Copmanhurst, Cangai, Coutts Crossing, Dorrigo, Brushgrove) - $4 million (2,300 plants) in cannabis seized
13/01/13 - 18/01/13: Mid North Coast LAC (Bowraville, Wauchope, Port Macquarie, Kendall) - $5.8 million (2,914 plants) in cannabis seized
17/02/13 - 22/02/13: Tweed/Byron LAC (Mullumbimby, Burringbar, Chillingham, Glengarrie, Cudgera Creek) - $3.6 million (1,816 plants) in cannabis seized
03/03/13 - 08/03/13: Richmond LAC (Boorabee, Gradys Creek, Nimbin, Rapville, Tabulam) - $4.2 million (2,099 plants) in cannabis seized
02/04/13 - 04/04/13: Coffs / Clarence LAC (Bellingen, Glenreagh, Tyringham) - $300,000 (150 plants) in cannabis seized to date.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...-marijuana-crops/story-e6freuy9-1226613592174
NSW Police officers from strike force Hyperion remove illegal cannabis crops near Bellingen on the NSW mid north coast / Pic: Nathan Edwards Source: The Daily Telegraph
A POLICE crackdown on cannabis crops has cost "organised, sophisticated" criminal groups nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
Officers from the drug squad, helicopter wing and dog squad yesterday joined with regional officers trekking down fire trails and through gullies, cutting their way through rugged thickets of lantana and blackberry and into the bright sunlight of bush-based marijuana plantations.
Growers have cleared bush canopies to allow plants access to sunlight, fenced off growing areas with chicken wire and cyclone fencing, set up homemade dams feeding into drip pipe irrigation set-ups and sprinkled fertiliser liberally around their crops.
"A lot of work has gone into this," drug squad commander Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham said.
"If they put that amount of work into a proper job they'd make a lot of money."
Supt Bingham said the criminals behind the drug plantations were "highly sophisticated" - making use of advanced horticultural processes to refine their plants.
"They don't just throw some seeds and cut into bush. It's bloody hard work for them. But we're hard workers too," he said.
It is hard work for officers. Police trek and drive for hours to pull up plants in the harsh sunlight. Plants are stacked up and carried out, sometimes by 4WD, sometimes by helicopter, and taken back to the police command post at the "Green Base" - a makeshift set-up on an old Aussie Rules oval near Bellingen.
"We're not after the pot smoking hippie with a couple of plants for personal use," drug squad Supt Bingham said.
"We're after the organised criminal who is making money from these crops."
He said the quality and quantity of the plants demonstrated the growers were getting better at their trade.
"We're confiscating flowering heads that are dripping with resin," he said.
"The flowering bud, which they call the head, of some of these plants are 30cm long and 40cm round. These people know what they are doing."
While the crop eradications were costing growers big bucks, police said in many cases the criminals were long gone by the time police began the clearing operations.
POLICE MARIJUANA RAIDS:
27/11/11 - 2/12/11: Manning Great Lakes LAC (Coopernock, Bulga, Elands, Wallis Lake, Wooton, Coolongolook, Old Bar, Taree, Wang Wauk and Tuncurry) - $1.93 million (965 plants) in cannabis seized
15/01/12 - 20/01/12: Richmond LAC (Kippenduff, Rappville, Clearfield, Busby Flat, Mummulgum, Bulldog, Drake, Nimbin, Blue Knob, Kyogle and Tabulam) - $7.5 million (3,374 plants) in cannabis seized
26/02/12 - 01/03/12: Coffs / Clarence LAC (Coffs Harbour hinterland) - $6.6 million (3,321 plants) in cannabis seized
11/03/12 - 16/03/12: Mid North Coast LAC (regional sites near Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Macksville etc) - $4.3 million (2,154 plants) in cannabis seized
18/11/12 - 23/11/12: New England LAC (Diehard, Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Carrai, Glen Elgin) - $6.9 million (3,450 plants) in cannabis seized
09/12/12 - 14/12/12: Coffs/Clarence LAC (Bellingen, Tyringham, Nymboida, Copmanhurst, Cangai, Coutts Crossing, Dorrigo, Brushgrove) - $4 million (2,300 plants) in cannabis seized
13/01/13 - 18/01/13: Mid North Coast LAC (Bowraville, Wauchope, Port Macquarie, Kendall) - $5.8 million (2,914 plants) in cannabis seized
17/02/13 - 22/02/13: Tweed/Byron LAC (Mullumbimby, Burringbar, Chillingham, Glengarrie, Cudgera Creek) - $3.6 million (1,816 plants) in cannabis seized
03/03/13 - 08/03/13: Richmond LAC (Boorabee, Gradys Creek, Nimbin, Rapville, Tabulam) - $4.2 million (2,099 plants) in cannabis seized
02/04/13 - 04/04/13: Coffs / Clarence LAC (Bellingen, Glenreagh, Tyringham) - $300,000 (150 plants) in cannabis seized to date.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...-marijuana-crops/story-e6freuy9-1226613592174