6,946 cannabis plants recovered in Waikato's Op Jasmine phase
Police recovered 6,946 cannabis plants searching 57 Waikato properties over two weeks in the Waikato phase of the national Op Jasmine cannabis operation, alongside 1.5 kilos of dried cannabis, other drugs, 16 firearms and stolen property. Thirty people were arrested and ten given formal warnings.
🇳🇿 Waikato, including the Coromandel Peninsula north of Whitianga · New Zealand
Waikato police recovered 6,946 cannabis plants searching 57 properties across the district over two weeks in the Waikato phase of Op Jasmine, a national cannabis and crime operation.[1]Teams on foot, in vehicles and in fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters found a large share of the plants on the Coromandel Peninsula north of Whitianga, with other recoveries in farmers’ maize crops, parks, reserves and private forestry blocks.[1]
Officers also recovered 1.5 kilos of dried cannabis along with quantities of methamphetamine, LSD, ecstasy and GBL, plus 16 firearms of various calibres with ammunition, $18,000 in cash and about $27,000 worth of stolen property including a digger.[1]Thirty people were arrested for a variety of offences and ten more were issued with formal warnings; three referrals went to the Asset Recovery Unit over properties with a combined estimated value above $1 million, and one child was referred to child welfare services.[1]
Detective Senior Sergeant Nigel Keall said the results showed strong links between illicit drugs and illegal firearms, and noted that growers were increasingly hiding commercial crops on other people’s land, leaving innocent landowners as victims.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Only the police statement could be opened, so no independent second source confirms these figures.
The statement says the two-week operation finished the week before its 5 March publication, so the exact end date is not stated; the report is dated to the announcement.
The statement says the plants were recovered from plots and reserves; it does not spell out how they were disposed of.
No charges or court outcomes for the 30 arrested were reported.
Quantities of methamphetamine, LSD, ecstasy and GBL found alongside the cannabis were not stated and are kept out of the cannabis figures.
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.
