Hawke’s Bay Police have located more than 200 nearly mature cannabis plants at a property in Hastings today.

The plants have an estimated street value of between $600,000 and $750,000 and were found at a leased commercial property in Orchard Road, Camberley this morning.

Two men – aged 45 and 49 – have been charged with cannabis cultivation and will appear in Hastings District Court on 12 September.

“This was a significant, large-scale commercial operation,” says Detective Inspector Marty James.

“It is one of the biggest cannabis growing operations I’ve seen in Hawke’s Bay, with 216 well-propogated plants just coming into production.” The property had only been leased three months ago and the alleged offenders had built three rooms within the property, plus a loft, in order to contain their equipment and grow the plants.

“There would have been a significant cost involved in setting up this operation, and I believe we busted the operation right before the growers were able to harvest their first crop,” says Detective Inspector James.

Three different rooms in the building were used for growing, with 72 plants in each room, at different stages of growth.

There was also evidence at the property to suggest the growers were stealing electricity to power lights and fans to aid the growing process.

“This is a valuable reminder to commercial property owners to do their due diligence when leasing properties to tenants – be mindful about who your tenants are, and what they are actually doing in your buildings,” says Detective Inspector James.

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