Police weed out $1m drug house
Dylan Welch February 13, 2008
As gardens go, this is not what the occupant of this Liverpool house wanted to see - over $1 million worth of marijuana plants stacked neatly on his front lawn by police.
Following an anonymous tip, Liverpool officers raided the house in Medley Avenue at 8am yesterday, arresting a 39-year-old man and discovering large marijuana plants growing in every room of the house.
"The people that live in the street have taken great interest in it, of course," Inspector Paul Kitley, of Liverpool police, said of the cannabis plants stacked in rows on the front lawn.
The bust - 355 plants in total which police value at $1.5 million - was one of the biggest Inspector Kitley had seen in such a built-up area, he said.
A person had phoned a constable at Liverpool police station last night and said there was something suspicious about the house. "The constable's done a bit of legwork and gone around last night and decided there was something there, because he could hear the whirring of the exhaust fans for the plants," Inspector Kitley said.
He informed his superiors and the house was raided this morning.
Now Inspector Kitley and Liverpool police want to express their thanks to the anonymous person who provided the information.
The Police Minister, David Campbell, got in on the act, expressed his thanks to the informant.
"A million dollars' worth of drugs that could have been sold to our kids is now off the streets as a result of an anonymous tip-off," he said. "I'd like to formally thank that person for coming forward and encourage others to do the same."
Inspector Kitley said the haul would be taken to a secure evidence room before being burnt in about a week.
The arrested man was taken to Liverpool police station and was last night charged with the cultivation of the illegal crop.
He spent the night in jail and is due to appear before Liverpool local court today.
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