Cannabis bush raids: Officers seize more than 6300 plants worth $13 million

THE NSW Drug and Firearms Squad has crisscrossed the state in 4WDs and helicopters, dismantling major drug operations and seizing more than 6300 cannabis plants worth $13 million.

Police officers conduct their annual cannabis eradication program in bushland and properties near Uki in the Tweed Heads hinterland. Picture: Nathan Edwards

POLICE have smashed drug supply rings across country NSW, seizing more than 6300 cannabis plants worth $13 million during a series of co-ordinated bush raids.

In recent weeks the Drug and Firearms Squad has crisscrossed the state in 4WDs and helicopters, dismantling major drug operations and charging 29 people in the process.

Polair winch mature cannabis plants from dense bushland during the operation. Picture: Nathan Edward

Officers seize mature plants from a private property near Uki. Picture: Nathan Edwards

The success of the cannabis crackdown comes as police prepare to roll out elite specialist teams to help tackle gun and drug crimes in regional areas.

From next month the newly formed Northern, Southern and Western Region Enforcement squads will work with the drug squad and rural investigators to try to eliminate the ice scourge destroying country towns.

Plants worth $13 million were seized during a series of co-ordinated bush raids. Picture: NSW Police

A total of 6346 plants were taken during the cannabis eradication program. Picture: NSW Police

Each team will have up to eight specialist officers operating out of Wagga Wagga, Tamworth, Dubbo and Coffs Harbour.

And although Superintendent Peter McErlain said ice was the number one challenge facing officers, he believes targeting cannabis was vital because it “fuelled organised crime”.

“What comes with organised crime? Violence and death,” Supt McErlain said.

Officers remove 17 mature plants from a house backyard near Burringbar. Picture: Nathan Edwards

“When you delve deeper into the cultivation and supply of cannabis, you find the profits are often reinvested into other criminal enterprises that directly threaten the safety of the NSW community.”

Between November and this month the cannabis team’s investigations co-ordinator, Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Haskins, has been overseeing the program which is helping bring organised crime to its knees.

Police officers from the the NSW Drug and firearm Squad conduct their annual cannabis eradication program in the Tweed Heads hinterland Pic Nathan Edwards

Cannabis plants are collected. Picture: Nathan Edwards

An officer wades through plants. Picture: Nathan Edwards

In recent weeks The Daily Telegraph accompanied teams of ­officers as they drove to remote locations and waited for PolAir to spot crops and direct them to large sites.

Because criminals are aware of helicopter spotting they have downsized their operations and now grow their cash crops in more clandestine locations — some that involve trekking through thick scrub for many kilometres.

The Telegraph was there when a hippie commune was raided near Tweed Heads, with dozens of plants pulled from behind a rusted tin house off a dirt road.

“The value of cannabis and its widespread use make it a desirable commodity for large criminal networks and organised crime to use as a platform to generate wealth, which in turn then provides financial ­mobility into other criminal enterprises,” Sgt Haskins said.

More than $360 million worth of cannabis plants have been seized since the cannabis eradication program began in the 1980s.