Emilijan and Ivan Lukaj found guilty of running a complicated cannabis syndicate involving seven grow houses, fake identities and hundreds of plants

A series of stray wires sticking out the back of a house meter box led police to smash a seven grow house cannabis syndicate. Watch as police broke the doors down and dismantled the enterprise.

A series of wires poking out the back of a meter box at a Hope Valley house would not normally raise alarm bells.

But a curious SA Power Networks employee’s query on the odd discovery turned out to be the beginning of the end for a major cannabis operation.

It sparked a months-long police investigation resulting in the dismantling of an intricate suburban drug syndicate, the arrest of two men and the seizure of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cannabis and equipment.

Brothers Emilijan, 44, and Ivan Lukaj, 41, were this month found guilty by a jury of running drug houses across Adelaide and trafficking in dozens of kilograms of dried cannabis.

But on that day in June, 2016, there were no thoughts of prosecutions, investigations and court testimony when the SAPN worker placed a fateful call to his supervisor.

He told her the meter had been tampered with and three extra wires now poked out of the back of the meter box, bypassing the power-measuring equipment.

The wires were tested and showed a high load of electricity was flowing through the cables, each one much higher than the normal household demand.

Police were called and officers climbed a ladder and entered through an upstairs window, finding a commercial-scale cannabis set-up.

Police photos of a drug house in Hope Valley tendered as part of the trial of Emilijan and Ivan Lukaj. Picture: Courts Administration Authority

Police photos of a drug house in Hope Valley tendered as part of the trial of Emilijan and Ivan Lukaj. Picture: Courts Administration Authority.

Across five bedrooms on the second floor of the sprawling house were 190 cannabis plants in various levels of growth as well as 36.5kg of dried cannabis on the ground.

As the officers made their way downstairs to open the front door they came across an even more unusual sight for a commercial drug house.

The perfectly normal downstairs level was equipped for family life with couches, a microwave and a TV.

Bedrooms looked lived-in and handtowels were hanging in the downstairs toilet.

The only sign that the house was not as it seemed was a pantry devoid of food but containing electric scales and a huge amount of plant nutrients.

The owners of the house, a couple, were questioned but told police they had been renting the house privately for 18 months to a man named Andrea Zicone - later proven to be a fake identity.

The owners said the rent was paid routinely in cash at a nearby Commonwealth Bank branch.

The information led police to the bank where they viewed security footage of one of the deposits and identified the man claiming to be Andrea Zicone.

The footage allowed police to identify the car the man was using, a grey station wagon.

The car was registered to Emilijan Lukaj’s wife, leading police to their Dernancourt home.

The owners of the Hope Valley house were shown a series of photos and identified a photo of Emilijan as the man claiming to be Andrea Zicone.

Surveillance of Emilijan led police to a hydroponic store on Main North Rd and then to another growhouse in Prospect.

Over the following weeks police would follow Emilijan and later Ivan to a network of seven growhouses across Adelaide.

On November 14, 2016, police arrested Ivan and a third man, Ferdinand Goli, standing in one of the growrooms in a Campbelltown house.

Police photos of a Campbelltown drug house tendered as part of the trial of Emilijan and Ivan Lukaj. Picture: Courts Administration Authority

Police photos of a Prospect drug house tendered as part of the trial of Emilijan and Ivan Lukaj. Picture: Courts Administration Authority.

Three bedrooms had been turned into hydroponic growrooms with elaborate watering systems and high-powered lights. Police found 39 large cannabis plants.

Officers found 70 plants in five growrooms in a Prospect property and 37 plants, as well as 1.27kg of dried cannabis hidden in the roof of the Campbelltown home.

In neighbouring properties at Ottoway police found a total of seven growrooms with 33 large plants. A fence had been cut to allow access between the neighbouring backyards.

A property in Newton had a nursery room where 154 fledgling plants were growing.

Police photos of money seized from a Campbelltown drug house tendered as part of the trial of Emilijan and Ivan Lukaj. Picture: Courts Administration Authority.

Police photos of a note found in an Ottoway drug house tendered as part of the trial of Emilijan and Ivan Lukaj. Picture: Courts Administration Authority.

Police photos of cannabis plants seized from a Campbelltown grow house, tendered as part of the trial of Emilijan and Ivan Lukaj. Picture: Courts Administration Authority.

All the properties had been rented privately, some for several years, in different names.

Many of the owners would later identify Emilijan as the real holder of the lease.

Emilijan was charged in relation to seven growhouses while Ivan faced charges relating to six.

Goli was also charged but breached his bail and disappeared in August 2017. At the time, the court heard there was evidence Goli had fled the country.

The jury unanimously found both Emilijan and Ivan guilty of all charges which included cultivating and trafficking in large commercial quantities of a controlled drug.

They were both remanded in custody and will face court again in December for sentencing submissions.