100,000 cannabis plants destroyed in 2006-2007 national operation
New Zealand police arrested more than 700 people and destroyed about 100,000 cannabis plants during the 2006-2007 national cannabis operation. Officers also seized more than 120 firearms, 170 kg of dried cannabis and $170,000 in stolen property, and located ten methamphetamine laboratories.
New Zealand police arrested more than 700 people involved in commercial cannabis
cultivation and distribution during the national cannabis crime operation of the
2006-2007 growing season.[1]Officers destroyed about 100,000 plants, seized
more than 120 firearms and recovered over $170,000 in stolen property.[1][2]
The season also yielded more than 170 kg of dried cannabis, ten methamphetamine
laboratories and twelve proceeds-of-crime actions.[1]Detective Senior Sergeant
Scott McGill said plant numbers were down on the previous season’s 118,457, but
arrests were up by 200, dried cannabis seizures up by about 100 kg, firearms up
from 54 to 122, and the laboratory count up by one.[1]
A gateway operation
McGill described the cannabis operation as a “whole of crime” gateway into other
organised criminal activity, citing the firearms, stolen property, methamphetamine
laboratories and proceeds actions found alongside cannabis inquiries.[1]He said members of the public made a major contribution by providing information
that led to plots being located and offenders arrested.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Police destroyed around 360 cannabis plants found under 15 tents in a Queen Street warehouse in Ōtāhuhu, Auckland. The search warrant was executed on Thursday, 14 May 2026, after an electrician reported unusual wiring, ventilation pipes and a cannabis smell.
Police announced on 25 September 2025 that a month-long operation in Auckland had shut 120 cannabis grow houses, destroyed more than 11,000 plants and seized more than 10 tonnes of cannabis. Thirty people were arrested, most Vietnamese nationals facing deportation, and police put the black-market value at more than NZ$50 million.
New Zealand police seized more than 34,000 cannabis plants and 79 kg of dried cannabis, together valued at about $95 million, in the summer national aerial eradication operation, with results announced 6 May 2022. Officers ran 123 searches, seizing 80 firearms and dismantling 24 indoor commercial grows.
Police destroyed 16,307 cannabis plants in Northland during Operation Jess, run from mid-January to mid-March 2018, the highest district tally in that year's national eradication programme. Officers also seized dried cannabis, firearms, cash and stolen property.
