Police seized more than 34,000 cannabis plants and 79 kg of dried cannabis with a combined street value of about $95 million during the summer’s nationally coordinated aerial cannabis eradication operation, which covered several regions of New Zealand.[1] The operation’s aim “was squarely on commercial-scale cannabis growing and the organised crime groups behind them”, not personal use or low-level offending, National Organised Crime Group director Detective Superintendent Greg Williams said.[1]
Officers ran 123 searches, seizing 80 firearms and speaking to 81 people about cultivation, supply and firearms offences; many small-plot growers received warnings instead of charges, and 24 indoor commercial grows were dismantled.[1] Officers also seized 4 kg of amphetamine and 19 g of methamphetamine alongside the cannabis.[1]
The operation revived the annual eradication programme, cancelled in January 2021, with a $635,000 budget for flights from January to March 2022 under the name Operation Emerald; six of the country’s twelve police districts took part.[2] The revival drew criticism, including from Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick, who cited a Coromandel couple whose three plants were sprayed from a helicopter while they ate dinner.[2]
