Cannabis-growing gear left in skip outside raided home
Police busted an Auckland townhouse being used to cultivate cannabis on Friday and left behind a rubbish skip full of growing equipment and the dregs of a marijuana crop.
Police confirmed a search warrant was carried out at an address on Houkura Way, Sandringham, after the Sunday Star-Times visited and found the remains of the growing operation.
‘‘Two males were arrested and charged with cannabis cultivation, they will appear in the Counties Manukau District
Court,’’ a police spokeswoman said.
Alongside hundreds of plant pots was lighting equipment, an electric thermostat, reflective equipment, pruning tools, and numerous black containers of flowering additives – compounds added to soil to encourage budding. There were also several large black bin bags, which contained scatterings of marijuana leaves and buds.
When asked whether it was normal practice to leave evidence behind in a skip, the spokeswoman said: ‘‘As the matter is before the courts we are unable to comment further.’’
One group of neighbours Stuff spoke to said police raided the property about 8am on Friday. A single police car pulled up outside and further officers appeared on foot, they said. About 10 officers were involved in the raid, which the neighbour said was ‘‘pretty orderly. It wasn’t very dramatic, there wasn’t anyone there, so it was all pretty quiet’’.
Another neighbour said police knocked on the door: ‘‘They said ‘Police, open up!’ No one came down. They must have got in around the back somehow because another cop opened the door, and then they all went in.’’
The raided property was at the furthest end of Houkura Way from St Lukes Rd. Another neighbour living in the middle of the townhouse row said the group living at the raided address were all young men who were quiet and on the one occasion he had spoken to one of them, they had been very friendly.
He didn’t know how many people lived at the property but said there were often small groups going in and out.
He said a security camera had been fixed to a pole looking down Houkura Way, and that he had noticed after police left that it had been removed. The wires that would have gone to the camera were still visible.