Police raid Nimbin Hemp Embassy and Museum in April 2008
About 50 police raided Nimbin's Hemp Embassy and Museum on 1 April 2008, arresting eight people and seizing 4 kg of cannabis, cookies and cake ahead of the MardiGrass festival. Activists called the April Fool's Day operation harassment of street traders.
🇦🇺 Nimbin, New South Wales · New South Wales, Australia
About 50 police from across New South Wales stormed the Hemp Embassy and the
Nimbin Museum on April Fool’s Day 2008, arresting eight people and seizing
four kilograms of cannabis.[1]A riot-squad contingent from Sydney joined
the operation, and officers took cannabis leaf, cookies and cake.[2]Volunteers said police came “in strength and with heavy hands to harass the
street traders particularly the cookie sellers”, calling the raid “like
busting a CWA cake stall”.[3]
Hemp law-reform supporters announced a protest at the Lismore Court House for
28 April over what they called a waste of taxpayers’ money.[3]The raid
came a month before Nimbin’s 16th annual MardiGrass festival, which drew an
estimated 15,000 people despite a heavy police presence.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Police at a vacant home in Adelaide's Melrose Park uncovered eight cannabis grow rooms inside a large shed. Officers seized 142 cannabis plants, about half a kilogram of dried cannabis and hydroponic equipment.
Seven people were charged after NSW Police raids across Sydney on 11 November 2026, in which officers seized 497 g of cannabis along with cocaine, methamphetamine, cash and two firearms. The raids followed the arrest of a 41-year-old man at a Mascot shipping container on 31 October; all seven were refused bail.
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.
