Police shut down commercial scale cannabis operation
Richard Dinnen - Queensland Editor |
Queensland Police have closed down a $234.5 million organised crime syndicate cannabis operation at Isis Central, near Bundaberg.
Fourteen people have been charged in relation to what police said was a commercial cannabis production facility at a property next to the Bruce Highway.
Drug and Serious Crime Group detectives executed a search warrant at the property, with support from Bundaberg, Wide Bay and Childers police.
It’s alleged police found of 51 greenhouses, each about 80 metres long.
They seized 46,894 cannabis plants and seedlings, along with generators, and hydroponic equipment police will allege was being used to grow the cannabis.
Police have arrested 12 men and two women who were found on the site.
Each has been charged with producing and possessing a dangerous drug and possessing items used in the production.
Police destroyed the cannabis plants and dismantled the hydroponic equipment.
Detective Inspector Brad Phelps said investigations are continuing.
“These criminal syndicates have no regard for the workers or their living conditions, the environment, or the wider harms illicit drugs cause to the community.
“Criminal syndicates are motivated by profit.
“These types of operations are linked to money laundering, with profits sent offshore and used to fund other criminal activities.”
The investigation will look for any links to a similar large commercial-scale cannabis production shut down at Boondooma, in the South Burnett region, in August.
