Police seize 19,000 cannabis plants in record NSW bust
Strike Force Harthouse detectives raided a rural property at Dandry in January 2022, seizing more than 19,000 cannabis plants valued at about A$66.8 million. Six people aged 23 to 42 were arrested and charged over what police called the biggest cannabis bust on the New South Wales record.
🇦🇺 Dandry, New South Wales · New South Wales, Australia
Arrested
6
Charged
6
Value (official estimate)
AUD 66,800,000
In January 2022, Strike Force Harthouse detectives executed a crime-scene
warrant on a rural property at Dandry in western New South Wales.[1]Police
seized more than 19,000 cannabis plants, which they valued at about A$66.8
million, calling it the biggest cannabis bust on the New South Wales
record.[1]Six people aged 23 to 42 were arrested and taken to Dubbo and
Coonabarabran police stations.[1]
All six were charged with cultivating a prohibited plant, taking part in
cultivating large commercial quantities of cannabis, and participating in a
criminal group, and were refused bail to appear at Coonamble Local Court on 19
January 2022.[1]Strike Force Harthouse was set up in 2019 to investigate
cannabis cultivation and trafficking across the state, and had charged 51
people and seized almost 70,000 plants worth more than A$217 million by the
time of the report.[1]
The exact police tally of 19,082 plants and about 11.5 tonnes comes from the ACIC and NSW Police release, whose page timed out and could not be reopened; the report uses the outlet's rounded figures.
The same article reports a separate February 2022 raid at Ellangowan seizing 16,500 plants, a different event left out here.
No trial or sentencing outcomes for the six charged were reported in the opened source.
No event photo could be verified: the article's image could not be matched to this raid, and the police release page would not open.
The frigate HMAS Ballarat, operating under Combined Task Force 150, boarded a dhow in the northern Arabian Sea on 8 January 2019 and seized 3,100 kg of hashish worth about A$155 million, its third drugs haul in just over two weeks.
The frigate HMAS Warramunga boarded three suspect vessels in the Arabian Sea between 27 and 29 December 2017 and seized almost eight tonnes of hashish. The Australian Defence Force called it the largest hashish seizure by an Australian ship on Middle East operations.
The frigate HMAS Darwin, working under British-led Combined Task Force 150, boarded a dhow in the Indian Ocean on 28 June 2014 and found 6,248 kg of cannabis resin hidden in its hull after a search of more than 12 hours. The haul, valued at about 18 million pounds, was the largest maritime hashish seizure in the Indian Ocean to date.
HMAS Melbourne and PNS Alamgir, operating under Combined Maritime Forces task force CTF-150, boarded a dhow east of Masirah Island, Oman on 13 February 2014 and seized 1,951 kg of cannabis resin hidden in its fishing hold, estimated to be worth about A$113 million.
