RECORD DRUG HAUL

West Coast police have netted a record cannabis haul in a week-long
drug recovery operation.

An Air Force-piloted Iroquois helicopter -- nicknamed the Grasshopper
by locals -- has hauled away a total of nearly 8740 plants.

The haul was up 16 per cent, or around 1200 plants, on last summer
largely because of the good growing conditions.

Sergeant Russell Glue, of Hokitika police, said the largest plot was
in Buller, at the northern West Coast, where between 500 and 1000
plants were found. Between 11 and 14 police officers were involved in
the operation. Police arrested 15 people and issued 31
cultivation-related charges, slightly fewer than previous years. Glue
said the West Coast was "getting up there" as one of the country's
biggest cultivation regions.

The biggest growing region was Northland which sometimes had two
harvests a year.

Glue said police could not disclose the street value of the cannabis
recovered. He urged anyone with drug information or suspicions about
cannabis cultivation to contact police. Suspicious activity included
cars parked at rural areas where they were not normally.

Nationally last growing season, police recovered and destroyed more
than 100,000 plants and arrested more than 700 people.