Armed cannabis growers jailed

Cannabis netted by NZ Police in Operation Canary

The men involved with a multimillion-dollar cannabis-growing ring in the South Island wore balaclavas and carried firearms while harvesting hundreds of plants, a judge said in the High Court in Invercargill.

Justice David Gendall was sentencing a key player and another man described as a "foot soldier" in what he called a "sophisticated and well-organised growing and selling ring".

Brian Anthony McCarthy, 63, a guide from Queenstown, and Brodie Raymond Anderson, 25, unemployed of Mossburn, were both jailed for their part in the ring. They were two of five men arrested in May last year after a three-and a-half year police investigation called Operation Canary.

McCarthy, who earlier pleaded guilty to 10 charges of cultivating cannabis, three of possessing cannabis for supply, two of selling cannabis and one of conspiring to sell cannabis, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.

Anderson received a two-year sentence after earlier admitting 15 charges of offering to sell cannabis, seven of possessing cannabis for supply and three of cultivation.

McCarthy was a major participant in the ring, which was broken when police made their arrests, Justice Gendall said. He set up and tended 10 cannabis plots, helped with the harvesting - assisted by armed men wearing balaclavas - and sold cannabis in bulk.

The total number of cannabis plants grown during the time police were following the ring was unknown, he said, but 361 plants were found in seven plots.

Defence lawyer John Westgate said McCarthy had been "seduced by the lifestyle of selling cannabis" and would "regret it forever".

McCarthy had lost a huge amount personally because of his offending, including having $111,000 in a trust account and his $580,000 home seized by the Crown, Mr Westgate said.

Sonia Vidal, defence lawyer for Anderson, said it was accepted he was a "foot soldier" in the cannabis ring "whereas McCarthy was at the top".

Anderson told police last year he had agreed to sell drugs because he was in debt and selling seemed like an easy way out.

Justice Gendall said monitoring of Anderson's cellphone showed he offered to sell cannabis 42 times between June 2011 and April last year. He also helped to harvest 62 plants during the 2010-11 growing year, and when his home was searched on April 17 last year had a large amount of cannabis spread out to dry in a bedroom, plus 57gm of cannabis in sellable form.

In September, Frank Mathew Tainton, 61, was sentenced to two years and nine months' jail for his part in the ring, and an order was made for the forfeiture of his vehicle.

A 43-year-old Invercargill man has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges. A single charge against a fifth man arrested as part of Operation Canary was withdrawn.