850 Plants Valued At Approx $1.7m

[Oz]

It looked like an ordinary suburban home, but inside it had been turned into an enormous greenhouse growing marijuana plants more than a metre tall.

 

Police discovered 850 plants during a raid on the single-storey Canterbury residence yesterday.

 

The crop, with a street value of approximately $1.7 million, was hydroponically grown in four rooms and the roof cavity of the property in Banna St.

 

"The house was set up for the sole purpose of cultivating these plants," Ashfield Detective Acting Inspector Brad Monk said. "There were few signs that people were actually staying at the premises."

 

A team of 16 officers arrived with a search warrant at 9.20am. They were acting on information from an anonymous resident two weeks ago.

 

Upon arriving, police witnessed a middle-aged Vietnamese couple leaving the premises by car.

 

"They basically had no idea they were being followed by police," Mr Monk said.

 

The pair, in their mid-50s, were arrested and taken to Burwood station for questioning.

 

Mr Monk said the suspects arrived in Australia 10 years ago. Neighbours said they had leased the house for the past three years.

 

Neighbour Jennifer Hu, 46, said she saw the couple "very seldomly", but they were sometimes visited by Vietnamese "boys in their twenties".

 

Another neighbour, Anna Kubica, also witnessed "three or four" such visits, but was convinced no one actually lived in the house.

 

Behind the drawn blinds of the home only a bedroom and bathroom did not host a forest of shrubs, ranging from seedlings to mature plants more than 1.2m high.

 

The indoor plantation was fuelled by an elaborate system of foil walls, fluorescent lights and water pipes in each room.

 

"It was a complex set-up that shows experience and professionalism in the way the electrical work was connected and re-routed," Mr Monk said.

 

Due to the uncommonly large size of the haul, police were still investigating whether the pair were acting as a front for other growers.

 

The man and woman are expected to be charged with cultivation of a prohibited substance.

 

By Josh Massoud

Date: 12/05/04

Source: The Daily Telegraph

2004 Nationwide News

[WantDaChronic]

why cant the police just let happy viet growers supply us? it has to come from sum where if u dont grow yaself that looks like good shit too shame i didnt get ahold of any

[Tom]

The indoor plantation was fuelled by an elaborate system of foil walls, fluorescent lights and water pipes in each room.

They were doing a grow of that size with fluoro's? :: ::

 

[risingsun]

No It looks like horizontal 600 or 1000 w lights to me and lots of them if the supplied picture is anything to go by,

However 850 plants is alot of plants they couldnt possibly be flowering all of them at the same time could they? They must of had a couple of hundred clones on the go as well!!

wantdachronic is right nice plants very nice plants.

[LuvBuds]

Na i think cops just call them fluro lights. Every bust i evr hear its always fluro lights being named.

I never here any word of HPS,MH or HID or nothing like that.

Im thinking the cops are just dumb.

 

It sounds like a prtty mad grow and a fair bit of dope off the street.

I wonder if ther are many Vietnamese people supplying this country with its weed.

I never though Viets where into larg scale wed growin.

 

 

Just my two cents

[free choice]

This Is a Criminal operation .. for money making only ..

 

the VIETS don't give damn about anybody .. they're the alien presence in our community that doesn't integrate or share our community values ...

they keep to themsleves & only have profits in mind...

they're here to prey on us like predators ... leaches ... parasites

 

GROW YOUR OWN ...

kill off the BLACK market ,,,

[Discerning Grower]

and they dress like Starsky and Hutch

[nouseforaname]

From what i saw on news it looked close to 10k twin flower room prob 4 600w in the pre flo room and the veg and cuts had fluros.. Why dont they know its called mylar yet either? and the roof was just a big smell breaker box so to me they werent using the roof really....

 

has anyone thought that maybe these people werent just in it for the money... they probably used the plants to make rope to send home to the family....

 

But i still think we are missing the big picture how have they been there 3 years and no inspections???

 

or

 

When can we lease it???? it was no 44