108,000 plants destroyed in 2004-2005 national cannabis operation
New Zealand's National Cannabis Crime Operation between November 2004 and April 2005 destroyed about 108,000 cannabis plants and led to 564 arrests. Police dedicated the results to an officer and a pilot killed in a January 2005 reconnaissance flight crash in Gibbston Valley.
The National Cannabis Crime Operation, run between November 2004 and April
2005, destroyed about 108,000 cannabis plants across New Zealand.[1]The
operation led to 564 arrests, the seizure of 46 firearms and the recovery of
an estimated $230,000 worth of stolen property.[1]Detective Senior
Sergeant Scott McGill credited the public, whose tip-offs located plots and
offenders, and dedicated the results to the memory of Detective Hughes and
pilot Chris Scott, who died in a plane accident in Queenstown while working
on the operation.[1]
Detective Travis Hughes of Queenstown and pilot Chris Scott of the Bay of
Plenty were killed when their single-engined Cessna 172 crashed in the
Gibbston Valley area during a routine cannabis reconnaissance flight.[2]Police named the two men on the morning of 30 January 2005; the Cessna had
been flying in good weather with no indication then of the cause, and a
Transport Accident Investigation Commission inspector was due at the crash
site.[2]
Case data
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