By KELLY BLANCHARD in Rotorua
Police have uncovered a sophisticated indoor cannabis growing operation buried in a bunker beneath a garage at a house near Rotorua.
The discovery was made yesterday when police raided a house on Tauranga Direct Rd, north-east of the city.
The bunker is
a 6m long shipping container.
A massive hole has been dug to accommodate the container which has been covered by a layer of concrete.
A garage has been built on top of that.
Rotorua police became suspicious about the house, about 7km up Tauranga Direct Rd from the Hamurana Rd turnoff, when they were called there on Wednesday night by a security company who had gone to the property to check out a ringing burglar alarm.
While at the house the police smelled cannabis and heard the sound of fans operating. They tracked the sound to beneath the garage.
A search warrant was obtained and teams of police from Rotorua and Hamilton raided the house early yesterday morning and discovered the fans were vents used to circulate air into the bunker to keep the cannabis crops alive.
In the corner of the garage police found an entry hole to the bunker about 1m square which was covered by boards and other material.
Detective Scott Thompson of the Rotorua police said someone had gone to a lot of work to hide the operation.
"Everyone who was there looked down the hole and thought 'you don't come across this every day'," he said.
A Rotorua Occupational Safety and Health inspector and a building inspector were called to the rural property following the discovery to check if it was safe for the police to go into the bunker.
With one of the walls and the roof threatening to cave in because of the weight of the garage it was deemed unsafe.
Mr Thompson said scaffolding was erected inside the bunker to allow the police to climb down into it.
The cannabis plants were removed but the total amount was yet to be counted.
A 34-year-old man has been charged with cultivating cannabis and possessing cannabis for supply. He was to appear in the Rotorua District Court today.
The man's 32-year-old wife has also been interviewed by police.
