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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Aus:Green belt: Potville haul hits $23m Dylan Welch and Arjun Ramachandran Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 17 May 2008 In what was becoming a daily event in Blair Athol, yesterday afternoon about 70 locals stood around a two-storey brick "McMansion" on St Monica Way, as detectives placed hundreds of large, pungent, budding marijuana plants on the front lawn of the house. It was the eighth raid since last Friday. Yesterday morning, there had been two other raids: in houses on The Kraal Drive and Mary Brown Place. The raids are connected to what the Campbelltown police commander Stuart Smith described as an "elaborate, extensive" cannabis syndicate. Superintendent Smith said he did not expect there would be any more raids in Blair Athol and attention would now turn to the specifics of the operation. "The technicalities and the cultivation shows significant experience in the field," said Superintendent Smith, who has 15 years' drug squad experience. Of the $23 million involved, $20 million is the expected street value of the thousands of plants, while the eight houses together are valued at almost $3.5 million. Justino Abesamis, who has lived in St Monica Way for four years, said plainclothes police in bulletproof vests used a battering ram to get into the house. "What's going on with this suburb?" he asked. "It's every day this week. For the last three days I have been seeing [the raids] and wondering what's going on." All the target houses had changed hands in the past two years, and all had been extensively altered with the construction of secret doorways and hidden rooms. The occupants had also illegally accessed mains electricity in the area. Superintendent Smith said the cost of the hydroponic set-up in each house would have been about $50,000. Two men and a woman were charged with cultivating a commercial quantity of a prohibited plant after yesterday's raids, with one of the men also charged over altering an electricity meter. All three were refused bail and were due to appear in Parramatta Local Court today. A third man was released pending further inquiries. The drugs seized yesterday are being destroyed, following preparation for evidence. Superintendent Smith outlined some of the reasons Blair Athol had been chosen: the plots of land were large and all the houses had at least four bedrooms, so there was a large area to grow the plants. "The issue for south-western areas is that there is significant stress with mortgages … These premises were able to be acquired [cheaply]," he said. Craig Fermor, a local resident, was concerned about the effect on Blair Athol's good reputation. "A lot of people who live here have a lot money invested in their homes," he said. Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: "I moved here and people would ask me where I lived and I'd say, 'Blair Athol' and they'd say, 'where's that?' "Now they all know where it is - everyone's ringing me," he said of the suburb's newfound fame. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/green-belt-potville-haul-hits-23m/2008/05/16/1210765174020.html
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