EIGHT ARRESTED IN CANNABIS RAID ON HYDROPONICS COMPANY

Police today arrested eight people, froze bank accounts and put a
restraining order on a hydroponics company after uncovering a major
cannabis growing operation in Wellington.

More than 60 police searched a hydroponics supply business in Wellington's
eastern suburbs, and houses in suburban Lyall Bay, Hataitai and Tawa, in
Porirua and Otaihanga, on the Kapiti coast.

Police put restraining orders on the business, its directors' bank
accounts, and the Otaihanga house, alleging the operation had generated
about $350,000.

Seven men and a woman are to appear in Wellington District Court tomorrow
on charges relating to growing and trafficking cannabis.

"The Proceeds of Crime restraining order which we have taken out against
the company is a rarity in New Zealand," said acting Detective Senior
Sergeant Darrin Thomson, who heads the region's organised crime unit.

"We believe this may be the first time a company has been charged for
cultivation offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act."

The orders mean the Official Assignee now manages the business and controls
the Otaihanga house and the bank accounts.

Police today found plants growing and a 60-litre drum of bagged cannabis in
the house.

There were also medium-sized growing operations in two Kilbirnie houses,
and a smaller one in a Lyall Bay house with enough alcohol to suggest it
was to be made into cannabis oil.

A rifle, a.357 calibre handgun and ammunition was found at the hydroponics
business.

Mr Thompson said the investigation started because police in Wellington had
noticed a shift from outdoor cultivation of cannabis to indoor hydroponic
set-ups.

"In Wellington we don't have the climate that suits outdoor growing at the
top end of the cannabis market, and suppliers favour the more reliable
quality and quantities obtained through growing plants indoors."

Police had yet to determine how much cannabis was seized today.