Yagoona: Hydro cannabis house goes up in smoke
A secret cannabis operation was uncovered after a house in Sydney’s south west caught on fire early on Saturday. Police discovered about 130 plants in five rooms.
Police & Courts
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A nondescript house sitting on six lanes of traffic in Sydney’s south west was operating as a large scale hydroponic cannabis house.
Police became aware of the drug operation early on Saturday when a Triple-0 call was made about the home on the Hume Hwy in Yagoona after it burst into flames.
Firefighters were called to the single storey dwelling about 4.30am and found the front of the house alight and smoke billowing from the property, a NSW Police spokeswoman said.
They forced their way inside and found a cannabis operation in the house but no people. There was damage to one of the rooms.
Police were called and a crime scene was set up after they obtained a search warrant.
Inside the house, police found about 130 cannabis plants in five rooms.
The spokeswoman said reports from the scene that the house was booby trapped were unconfirmed and police conducted their investigations on Saturday.
A NSW Fire and Rescue spokesman was also not able to confirm the existence of a booby trap.
Police worked throughout the day to investigate how many cannabis plants were in the two structures.
The property included two houses — one at the front and another at the rear — that both contained cannabis plants.
According to property records, the house was last sold on February 23, 2017, for $650,000. It was listed for rent on June 27, 2017 for an asking price of $500 a week.
Police will look into who was occupying the house at the time of the fire.
According to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, cultivation of cannabis offences in the Canterbury Bankstown area have been stable over the past 60 months from January to December 2019.
No charges have been laid but a police investigation is under way.
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