Eight people face court over multi-million-dollar cannabis bust at Buckland Park

Eight people have faced court over what police say could be the largest cannabis bust in SA’s recent history.

A cannabis crop discovered “hiding in plain sight” on the northern outskirts of Adelaide is one of the biggest SA Police has seen.

At least 10,000 cannabis plants were found growing in several glasshouses on a property at Buckland Park on Tuesday morning.

Detectives returned to the property on Nemesis Court on Wednesday to begin seizing huge quantities of dried cannabis and burning the fresh plants, which ranged from small to large in size.

An aerial shot of the Buckland Park property at centre of the huge drug bust. Picture: Nine News

As police scoured the site and began the lengthy process of removing the plants, eight men charged over the haul appeared in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court by video-link late on Wednesday afternoon.

A Vietnamese interpreter assisted the group, who were all wearing forensic jumpsuits.

Magistrate Mark Semmens said delays in bringing the defendants before the court meant there was not enough time left in the day to hear their bail applications.

“(I am) noting that it’s 3.58pm and the defendant has been in custody for 31 hours,” he said when the first accused appeared.

“The delays by SAPOL and the DPP, through no fault of the lawyer or the defendant, mean ... it cannot be heard now, in accordance with the Bail Act.”

Seven were remanded in custody overnight to face court again on Thursday, when their applications will be heard.

A bail enquiry report was ordered for one of the men, who was remanded to reappear in court early next month.

Police expect to count at least 10,000 cannabis plants at the Buckland Park property. There were also huge amounts of dried cannabis found. Photo: SA Police

The accused are Phuong Le, 49, Vu Le, 50, Hoang Truong, 52, Dep Nguyen, 68, Quyen Nguyen, 54, Thanh Nguyen, 28, Van Nguyen, 45, and Van Nguyen, 39.

Several supporters attended court, but they made no comment outside court.

The lawyer for Vu Le said his client would be fighting the allegations.

kActing officer in charge of the Serious and Organised Crime Branch, Chief Inspector Darren Fielke, said it was a “sophisticated” operation that was one of the biggest seen in recent South Australian history.

Eight people were arrested over the massive haul. Photo: SA Police

Police are investigating possible links to organised crime. Photo: SA Police

“At the moment there’s upwards of 5000 plants, but the count is continuing so we expect it to be at least double that,” he said.

“We don’t know exactly how much dried cannabis there is, but initial estimates would be that this (crop) is worth millions of dollars at street level and millions of dollars on the black market.”

Police search the Buckland Park property at centre of the drug raids. Picture: Nine News

Chief Inspector Fielke said the operation, which he estimated started several months ago, was “very brazen” and “hiding in plain sight” among glasshouse vegetable gardens.

Eight people were arrested over the discovery and police are investigating if they have links to organised crime syndicates.

Chief Inspector Fielke said at least one of the arrested men was an illegal resident from South-East Asia, while the Australian Border Force was helping to determine the residential status of the other men.

Chief Inspector Darren Fielke speaks with reporters at the scene. Picture: Sam Wundke

Detectives are expected to stay on the property for several days, destroying plants and processing evidence. Picture: Sam Wundke

In February, SA Police seized 7000 plants from a nearby property at Virginia. At the time, that was one of the biggest cannabis crops ever seen.

Original estimates suggested just 3000 plants were found – but it was revised later to 7000.

“If this goes beyond 7000 plants, we are looking at one of the biggest seizures we’ve ever had,” Chief Inspector Fielke said of the Buckland Park haul.

It has not yet been established if the Buckland Park operation is linked to organised crime, but Chief Inspector Fielke would not rule anything out, including possible links to the Virginia property.

“Out of an abundance of doing the right thing around the investigation, we will continue to see if it is linked to the Virginia property and any other properties out here,” he said.

“We are not ruling out searching more properties and we are not ruling out making more arrests.”

Detectives would also explore whether the operation has international crime links.

“Nothing is off the table in terms of how we will go about investigating this,” Chief Inspector Fielke said.

Detectives will spend at least two more days on the property, seizing evidence and destroying the cannabis plants.

There are seven glasshouses on the property, but not all of them contain cannabis plants.

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