An indoor cannabis-growing operation discovered in a Glenleith house earlier this year was the most sophisticated a Dunedin detective had seen in his 10 years in the police force.
Police officers had been surprised by the extent of the operation when they searched the house in March, Detective Hamish Barrons, of the Dunedin organised crime unit, said yesterday.
"This was an ordinary brick and tile house in an ordinary street in an ordinary part of town," he said.
Truck driver Bernard James Paul Kearney (45), who was convicted yesterday on two cannabis charges and sentenced to two years and two months in prison, had converted the entire basement of the Islay St house he owned into five rooms, the court heard - three growing areas, a storeroom and a room used to heat the air before it was pumped into the growing spaces.
Each growing room was fitted with white plastic walls to reflect heat, motorised heat lights on timers rigged to travel along railings, an automated watering system, a ventilation system and an automated system which sprayed carbon dioxide on to each plant for a few minutes every hour.
A home-made wooden spiral staircase led from Kearney's bedroom to the basement and was hidden beneath a trapdoor, carpet and a wardrobe. Kearney had set up a surveillance camera at the front of the property and another outside one of the growing rooms.
Police officers found 42 plants at the house during the search and calculated the space could be used to produce cannabis with a street value of up to $200,000 in a single year.
In the High Court at Dunedin yesterday, Justice Pankhurst sentenced Kearney to two years and two months in prison. Kearney had pleaded guilty to charges of cultivating cannabis and possession of cannabis for supply.
Det Barrons said Kearney "had gone to a lot of time and effort" to convert the basement and build the staircase.
"He had redesigned the basement from scratch. It was the most sophisticated operation I have seen in my 10 years as a police officer."
Kearney had also "made it his business" to learn about the science of growing so he could produce large, healthy plants, Det Barrons said.
He would not say how police found out about the basement.
The discovery was unusual because of its sophistication, because Kearney owned his own home, and because Kearney was not believed to have links with any other drug dealers or gangs.
"The belief that cannabis-growing is by necessity linked to organised crime is incorrect."
Cannabis was the illegal drug of choice in Dunedin "by a country mile", he said.
Last year, 54 people were convicted for cultivating cannabis, 67 for selling cannabis or possession for supply, and 175 for using cannabis, possessing cannabis or possessing utensils for using cannabis. While no figures were available for this year, he said his feeling was 2009 would be as busy, if not busier.
