HUGE CANNABIS PATCH REVEALED

A marijuana farmer directed The Royal Gazette to his illegal plot yesterday
after saying he had been tipped off that it was under surveillance.

The anonymous caller rang yesterday morning and described how to reach the
four-by-12 metre plot hidden in dense woodland on Government land in the
East of the Island. It harboured a crop which has netted him $40,000.

When The Royal Gazette paid a visit it found the area thick with plants ten
feet high among barrels for irrigation.

The plot was reached by a hidden path behind innocent-looking chicken coops
and impossible to stumble across unless you were looking for it.

Later the caller checked to see we had visited and said he had told other
media.

He said: "I am a little angry Police found out. I found out through some
good friends. I have had it for about four years. It's worth about $40,000
a year, this was a really good year. Last year Hurricane Fabian took it
right out."

He said the tip-off that the farm was being watched by Police had saved him
his liberty.

"They didn't get me, it's basically too late for them. What they should
have done is allow me to harvest it, they know who it belongs to. "There
are also other people who know Police are onto them."

The plants had been planted in February and the caller said it was his only
plot.

Marijuana cultivation is a sideline to his main job said the man who
claimed he sold the crop at discount for medicinal use to cancer patients
who were also upset it had been discovered.

The marijuana cultivation was mainly philanthropic, claimed the man. "I
give major discounts if I charge at all."

But he said the discovery had discouraged him. "I want to leave the Island
because there is nowhere to grow.

"Everywhere I want to grow they are building houses. The Island is too
small to grow really. I know there are lots of people like me, I have known
many, many, many."

One former marijuana grower, who is now in rehab, told The Royal Gazette
the plants thrived in Bermuda's rich soil and damp atmosphere while thick
vegetation provided the perfect cover.

"There are plots all over the Island," said the man who said the site found
by The Royal Gazette was one of the larger plots.

He estimated around 50 percent of Bermuda's marijuana consumption is from
home-grown herb and explained it took three to six months for plants to
reach four or five feet.

The plants need a lot of water but can be left for a day or so, he said,
adding that animal manure helped them along while "caterpillars and humans"
were the main threat to their livelihood.

Marijuana cultivation is big business in Bermuda.

He said a ten-foot plant could yield 15 grams of the drug which could be
worth between $1,500 and $3,000 on the streets of Bermuda.

Cannabis cigarettes go for about $12.50, bags big enough for four to five
cigarettes go for $50 while one gram of the drug costs $125 and an ounce
fetches around $600.

Last night a Police media spokesman said no-one has reported the site and
he requested details of its whereabouts which The Royal Gazette is happy to
provide.

The spokesman added later: "Certain circumstances of this particular
incident are unclear at this juncture however the services will be
conducting an inquiry into this matter."