Pubdate: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 Source: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) Copyright: Allied Press Limited, 2002 Contact: http://www2.odt.co.nz Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/925 Author: Mark Hotton Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n378/a04.html BOY (12) DRUG SUPPLIER SNARED Queenstown: A 12-year-old drug supplier, more than $4 million of cannabis and several firearms - including military-style semi-automatics - were discovered during a recent police drug crackdown in Otago and Southland. An air force Iroquois helicopter and crew, and about eight police officers, spent 30 hours in the air last month targeting cannabis plantations being grown for supply. Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Wood, of Queenstown, said yesterday police were shocked to discover a 12-year-old Queenstown boy was being supplied with cannabis which he had, in turn, supplied to his friends. "The trend certainly is that they are getting younger and younger but that is a bit of a rarity. Well, we hope it's a bit of a rarity. We're very concerned about it, obviously," Det Snr Sgt Wood said. The youngster has been referred to police youth aid. The police operation netted 4082 cannabis plants, with an estimated street value of $4 million, in the region south of the Waitaki River. Eleven firearms, including a sawn-off shotgun and two military-style semi-automatics, were recovered, mostly from the Oamaru area. Also found were 260 poppy plants in North Otago and about 3000 cannabis seeds across the region. While a complete breakdown of where the plants were found and the arrest figures was unavailable yesterday, Det Snr Sgt Wood confirmed about 1000 plants, with an estimated street value of $1 million, were located in 54 sites in the Wakatipu area. Cannabis plots were discovered in the Glenorchy area, including the Caples and Greenstone Valleys, and on Mount Alfred, around Lakes Hayes and near Wye Creek. A larger number of plants were recovered from the Queenstown and Fiordland regions, compared with other areas. While it was difficult to tell if figures were higher than previous years, "it was more than we had hoped". Finding 4000 plants was significant and would certainly hurt the growers, Det Snr Sgt Wood said. "We can't judge how much is out there - it could be the same again - because the area is so vast. Unfortunately, we can't cover it all." The intention was to focus on those growers who were dealing and put pressure on them, he said. "It's only a matter of time before they're caught because they're so greedy. They're doing it for the money and they won't stop until they get caught." More aerial operations were planned in the region. - --- MAP posted-by: Ariel