Marijuana producers unknown

THE owner of $82million worth of marijuana remains a mystery.

The seizure of 33,000 marijuana plants at Mt Pelion was the state’s biggest haul. Picture: Contributed

THE owner of $82 million worth of marijuana remains a mystery.

During a three-day operation in early October last year the State Drug Squad uncovered and seized the multi-million-dollar crop at a property at Mt Pelion.

The plants were incinerated at the Farleigh Mill shortly after. However, seizing and destroying the large crop is only half the battle.

Seven months later and a question mark still remains in relation to the producers of the crop.

"There is no prosecution forthcoming ... we are still trying to identify the offenders," State Drug and Property Crime Group Detective Inspector Mark Slater said.

"It's not uncommon we'll have a seizure of varying types of drugs where there's no offenders prosecuted."

This was the state's biggest haul of 2011.

Seven officers from the State Drug Investigation Unit, assisted by Mackay officers, seized more than 33,000 marijuana plants ranging from small seedlings to mature plants six to eight feet high.

It takes between three to six months for the maturity phase to be reached.

Two sites at the property were used for the crop, which had a street value of more than $82 million.

The property the marijuana was grown on was unoccupied at the time, Det. Insp. Slater said.

The owners of the property had no involvement, he said.

Despite not being able to point a finger, Det. Insp. Slater said finding and destroying the crop was a huge coup.

"It's always great to be able to charge and prosecute," he said.

"But at the end of the day, that's a lot of cannabis ... that's not hitting the market."

Some would certainly have been destined for Mackay, Det. Insp. Slater said.

"It could have gone (to distribution points) beyond that too," he said.

"It's important to us that we disrupt drug supply networks ... it's an important part of the work that we do."

The seizure was part of Operation Juliet Unearth, which began in August last year and focused on marijuana production in the Mt Pelion area.

Originally published as Marijuana producers unknown