Four arrested as 4,297 cannabis plants seized in Kemps Creek
Strike Force Riche raided a Kemps Creek property with 31 greenhouses on 25 August 2020, seizing 4,297 cannabis plants worth 12.89 million dollars. Four men were charged with cultivating a large commercial quantity and refused bail.
🇦🇺 Kemps Creek, Sydney, New South Wales · New South Wales, Australia
Officers of Strike Force Riche, a joint Organised Crime Squad and NSW Crime
Commission investigation into cannabis cultivation and money laundering set up
in July 2019, carried out a search warrant at a property in Kemps Creek, in
Sydney’s west, on Tuesday 25 August 2020.[1]The property held 31
greenhouses, four of them fitted with cannabis cultivation equipment, and
officers seized 4,297 live cannabis plants with an estimated value of 12.89
million dollars.[1]
Four men found at the scene, aged 19, 23, 26 and 41, were arrested and charged
with participating in a criminal group and cultivating a prohibited plant in a
large commercial quantity, which carries up to twenty years in prison.[1]All four faced Liverpool Local Court on Wednesday 26 August and were refused
bail.[1]
Police alleged the 19-year-old was also involved in another large-scale
operation at Gibberagee, where officers had seized almost 22 million dollars
worth of cannabis in June.[1]By the time of the Kemps Creek raid, Strike
Force Riche had arrested twelve people in total.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
4
Charged
4
of them seized
4,297
Sites
1
Value (official estimate)
AUD 12,890,000
Agencies
New South Wales Police; NSW Crime Commission
Agency type
Police, Other
Cannabis
Living plants (4,297 plants)
Activity
Cultivation, Money and assets
Setting
Farm
Grown
Greenhouse
Charges
participating in a criminal group; cultivating a prohibited plant in a large commercial quantity
The whole account rests on one outlet's report of the police operation.
NSW Police photos of the Kemps Creek greenhouses were republished by cannabis outlets, but their direct addresses could not be recovered, so no photo is listed.
No outcome of the charges in Liverpool Local Court was reported.
Police seized 521 mature hydroponically grown cannabis plants and cultivation equipment while searching a home on Brooks Parade in Belmont, Lake Macquarie, and two neighbouring properties on 9 November 2026. No occupants were found; police put the plants' potential street value at $1,042,000 and said inquiries were continuing.
ACT Policing charged two 35-year-old men, one with trafficking a trafficable quantity of cannabis, after searching a Turner home on 7 November and seizing dried cannabis, several other drugs, about $110,000 in cash and two luxury cars. The homeowner was refused bail on 9 November; the second man, arrested on a warrant, applied for bail.
Victoria Police arrested and charged two Highett men, aged 48 and 67, after a 29 October 2026 warrant on Peace Street. Officers seized cannabis, hydroponic equipment and other drugs; one man is remanded and the other is on bail.
Hunter Valley police seized 280 plants at Denman on 29 September 2026 and 925 more at Muswellbrook and Singleton Heights on 1 October, taking Operation Cages to 1,465 plants worth about $4 million; two men, 36 and 56, were charged and refused bail.
