Callum McNeill: Detective Inspector on the massive cannabis busts in Operation Beryl

Police say recent cannabis busts show how widely cultivated the drug is. 

Over the course of a month Operation Beryl busted 120 properties across Auckland, seizing 11-thousand illicit plants, estimated to be worth more than $58 million. 

More than ten tonnes of cannabis from Vietnamese organised crime groups have been destroyed. 

Detective Inspector Callum McNeill told Mike Hosking it's likely one of their largest cannabis busts ever. 

But he says the crime groups have probably already found new locations to grow new plants.  

McNeill told Hosking his main concern is the money going to trans-national organised crime groups, and going on to fund other criminal activities. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So it looks like the police are into the cannabis fight.
Sting in July and August saw ten tons destroyed, one
hundred and twenty grow houses raided across Auckland Auckland alone,
So the hall they think about fifty eight million. Callum
McNeil's the police detective and spectrum charge of this and he's.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
With us morning more.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Where are we at with cannabis versus any other drug
use in terms of supply and use in this country?
And how big a deal is this bust?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Look, cannabis, you know, like a lot of drugs, is
obviously illegal. Currently, our main concern around cannabis is just
the amount that has been grown by these transnational organized
crime groups. You know that money that is made from
growing cannabis has gone towards other criminal activities forward money

(00:47):
laundering and other criminal offenses. So it is a concern
for us. And as a result of sort of sustained
intelligence gathering and compete community reporting rise and these cannabis
grow houses into organized crime recently.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Put it into context. One hundred and twenty houses to
me sounds like a lot of houses. Is this like
a massive bust?

Speaker 2 (01:11):
It is in relation to cultivation of cannabis. It's probably
one of the largest ones we've done in the past.
Like I say, it just indicates just how many there
are out there, and I have no doubt you know,
they are back up and running now and new houses,
and it's just something we have to keep on top of.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Are they all linked once you start, once you start ferreting,
are they all essentially linked or these all individuals doing
their own thing.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
There is a lot of entrepreneurs out there that will
have four to five houses each. We're not seeing. You know.
It's not like your traditional biking structure where you've got
a president and then a sergeant of arms and you've
got a whole lot of people under you. They are
quite independent in the way they operate.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
It must be demand, dribbon, I mean everyone must be
on cannabis. I mean you can't have one hundred and
twenty houses in Auckland alone without somebody somewhere buying a
shed load of this stuff and smoking it.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, absolutely indicates that there is a you know, it's
that whole supply and demand. There's obviously the demand for it,
so there'll always be that supply and people growing it.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
What are the consequences here. I mean, are these people
taken out of the game now because they'll hit the
justice system and be banged up, or are they back
at it in a couple of weeks time.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
With these particular individuals, the majority were Vietnamese. A large
amount of the third arrests that we made just during
this operation they were already illegally in New Zealand and
we're liable for the cautions, so they have been deported.
We have a few gangs through the court system. It's

(02:52):
one of those things where you know, if we do
arrest someone, we put them before the court, they will
get bail. It's not a generally not a prisonable offense.
And we're finding these people back in these cowhouses, so
you know, we're working with our partners really close to
immigration in THEE and where they are liable to be
deported than we are deporting them.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Good. Well, then keep the good work up. Kellum McNeil
out of the police for us this morning.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
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