Cannabis operation outlined to court | New Zealand

Cannabis operation outlined to court

Police procedures in the search and discovery of cannabis plants on a Canvastown property were examined in the Blenheim District Court yesterday.

It was the second day of a jury trial hearing evidence against two brothers, Cherrin Brian Pope, 33, and Hemi Paki Pope, 25. Together they face four charges: cultivating cannabis, producing the class-B controlled drug cannabis oil, possessing cannabis material and possessing cannabis oil.

They deny the charges.

In front of Judge David McKegg and an eight-woman, four-male jury,

police witnesses outlined the steps they took after using using a search warrant on April 3, 2006, to enter the property Cherrin Pope allegedly lived on and where Hemi Pope regularly stayed.

In charge of the site exhibits, Senior Constable Paul McKenzie had identified the material to be removed and sampled.

He said all cannabis and cannabis material was removed after samples from each site were taken. Each sample was numbered for accurate identification when it was sent to ESR, Auckland, for testing.

Mr McKenzie said before anything was removed, however, police photographer and senior crime officer Constable Alan Hendriksen had taken images of the various sites and collected fingerprints from relevant items.

Cannabis plants had been found growing in buckets and old pig pens.

Irrigation pipes showed they were watered regularly but some plants had their leaves stripped so growth concentrated on the seed heads, Mr McKenzie said.

Harvested cannabis was being processed in derelict vehicles on the property. Cannabis heads were drying on chicken wire racks and stacks of dried cannabis leaf or "cabbage" were found wrapped in tarpaulin and in a car boot.

Cannabis oil was also found, Mr Mckenzie said. Police found mail in the kitchen of each of the brothers, addressed to them as if they were living at the Canvastown property. The trial continues today.

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