Cowboy Paradise owner on trial over drug bust
A West Coast businessman allegedly operated a major drugs operation from his tourism venture, earning $7 million from selling cannabis grown in a secret underground bunker the size of a tennis court, a court has heard.
The trial against Cowboy Paradise owner Michael Kevin Milne and associate Anthony Wayne Harris opened in the Greymouth District Court yesterday.
Milne is accused of growing enough plants to sell 136kg of cannabis bud each year between 2013 and 2019 – almost a tonne of the drug in total – in a “sophisticated cannabis-growing operation” in a concrete bunker twice the size of the average New Zealand house.
Cowboy Paradise is on 700ha of land near Hokitika. It has a shooting range, accommodation and a saloon, as well as 6km of the West Coast Wilderness Trail on its land.
Milne, 68, and Harris, 77, were arrested in September 2019 after police raided the tourism venture and seized about $5 million worth of assets, including farmland, residential property, cash, vehicles, farm machinery and firearms.
As the trial got under way yesterday, Crown prosecutor Cameron Stuart said Milne earned $1m a year from the purpose-built commercial cannabisgrowing operation, which was in a 240m2 underground bunker – about the area of a tennis court.
It housed 12 growing bays, lights, fans, and a hydroponic system which allowed him to grow cannabis continually throughout the year, Stuart alleged.
He said Harris lived in Blackball and was in regular contact with Milne. A search of Harris’s house found a stun gun, pepper spray and a flick knife.
Cellphone tower data revealed that Harris drove to Canterbury on a nearly weekly basis to sell the cannabis for Milne, it is alleged.
Milne is facing three charges of cultivating cannabis, three charges of selling the drug, possession of cannabis for sale, and possessing equipment to cultivate cannabis.
Harris faces three charges of selling cannabis, two of possession of ammunition, and two of possession of a restricted weapon.
Stuart said the court would hear from a forensic accountant who found that Harris had made 248 cash deposits totalling $460,000 into his bank over seven years.
The alleged offending came to light when police started a covert operation at Cowboy Paradise, and found the bunker powered by a large diesel generator and accessed through a 40ft shipping container sitting on top of its concrete roof.
Police installed a hidden camera in bushes near the container and filmed Milne going in and out of it for three weeks.
Stuart said a police officer went into the bunker “under the cover of darkness” three times through a trapdoor in the shipping container.
“He found it full of cannabis in growing bays, hydroponic systems, water being pumped throughout, large plastic bags full of bud, fertiliser and all sorts of equipment needed for the growing of cannabis,” he said.
He said the jury would be shown a video and photographs the officer recorded on his phone during one of the visits.
The prosecutor said the jury would also be shown clips of Milne coming out of the container carrying a large plastic bag on August 12, 2019, and a week later, on August 19 – the same dates that cellphone
records would show Harris driving to Canterbury and back to the Coast.
Police had tapped Harris’s phone, and the jury would hear the recorded calls with Milne and others, Stuart said.
In September 2019, when police searched Harris’s property, he phoned Milne.
“[Harris] panics and rings Milne, tells him to clear out the bunker, get rid of everything,” Stuart said. “That’s ultimately what happens. By the time police arrived with a formal search warrant, everything was gone. The bunker was cleared.”
Milne told Harris during the phone call he would put six plants in a special place, which police found in pots in the shooting bay at Cowboy Paradise. They also found a small bucket containing 543g of trimmed cannabis bud, and a small bag containing 6g of cannabis in a vehicle.
An electrician examined the “massive” generator and found it was enough to power 80 grow lamps and 12 heaters.
Stuart said Harris’s house was searched twice, and large quantities of cash, weapons, documents, receipts, written instructions to tend to cannabis plants, ammunition, a Taser and pepper spray were found.
“This is a circumstantial case. We don’t have eyes on Mr Milne planting, but it is clear it is his property and he was the only one coming and going from this bunker full of cannabis plants,” Stuart said.
Harris’s lawyer, Marcus Zintl, said his client was a semi-retired gold miner and prospector.
“He does not dispute knowing Mr Milne, he does not dispute knowing that Mr Milne was growing cannabis. What is disputed is that he sold and regularly distributed cannabis in Christchurch,” he said.
He said there were “two massive holes” in the Crown’s case against Harris.
“Not one witness will say they saw even one bud either on him or in his vehicles or house that was searched twice ... They don't have anyone saying they saw him selling or anyone that bought cannabis from him.
“There is no direct evidence of him being in possession or selling it. I suggest it never happened.”
He said Harris had the Taser and the pepper spray to protect his mentally ill son from “very real and present physical threats and home invasions from third parties”.
Milne’s lawyer chose not to provide the jury with an opening address.
The trial is expected to last for two weeks.