Glances led police to cannabis stash

A man whose nervous glances at the ceiling led police to his stash of drying cannabis wasyesterday found guilty of possessing the drug for supply.

A Greymouth District Court jury took 33 minutes to convict Brent Stephen Jones, 42. He was remanded on bail for sentencing at a later date.

Jones admitted cultivating and possessing the drug, but denied dealing.

Police executed a search warrant on Jones's Franklin St home at 8.30am on March 22 last year, and once inside were led by Jones to his indoor cannabis-growing operation.

The plywood growing room contained two mother plants and 32 seedlings cloned from them. In another room they found a can holding 50g of dried cannabis and another mature plant.

Detective Sergeant Jackie Adams said Jones' body language suggested there was more to be found.

"He wouldn't stop talking, wouldn't stop moving and he kept looking up at the ceiling, so we climbed up and found the three boxes in a space above the cylinder."

The boxes, in a gap above the hot water cylinder, contained 500g of drying cannabis head.

Brett Geer, the detective sergeant in charge of the Tasman police organised crime unit, said the cannabis found at Jones house was worth $5820 if it was sold by the ounce.

Mr Geer yesterday gave the jurors a quick lesson in "drug speak" to help them understand texts to and from Jones' phone. The texts included "O's", "s" and "hundies". Geer said that was drug-speak for ounces, half-ounces or hundreds of dollars.

In evidence, Jones contended that the "Os" referred to rings of firewood and the "hundies" were bags of whitebait he had for sale.