MORE THAN 3000 CANNABIS PLANTS SEIZED IN NELSON AREA

More than 3000 cannabis plants that Nelson police say are worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars have been seized during their annual drugs operation.

Police discovered more than 100 cannabis plots this week between Murchison
and Golden Bay.

In one plot police yesterday discovered 45 plants about 3m tall and valued
at $2000 each, a total of $90,000.

Police estimate a plant about 1m tall is worth at least $500. But Constable
Rob Crawford, of the Motueka police, said some mature, good quality plants
could reach up to $6000.

"For this time of the season, there are some good quality plants," he said.

"If they had been left to grow for another three or four weeks they would
have been in their prime."

Several searches of properties have also been carried out and 10 people
have being charged with drug or firearm offences. Police said more arrests
were likely over the weekend.

In Kikiwa a man was arrested and charged with cultivating cannabis after
160 plants were allegedly discovered in several plots on his property.

Operation co-ordinator Sergeant Mike Fitzsimmons said many of the cannabis
plots had been found in forestry blocks and were surrounded by traps,
cyanide and 1080 poison to keep out possums and other animals.

Some plots were also irrigated and on one property, police found a woodpile
which hid a room used for storing cannabis. It was accessed by a small
trapdoor hidden in the side of the woodpile.

"A lot of the growers are also just putting one or two plants in the gorse
and berry vines," he said.

Mr Fitzsimmons said the operation took cannabis from throughout the
Nelson-Tasman region before they were due to be harvested.

About a dozen officers have been working on the cannabis operation and what
could not be taken out on foot was taken out by air force Iroquois helicopters.

"The operation has gone really well and it has been great to get a larger
number of arrests this year," he said.