Detective Inspector Lindsay Pilbrow said at the time that, in some cases, the homes were “packed to the brim” with cannabis plants.
Fourteen people were charged with cultivating cannabis and other related charges.
Three of those facing cultivating cannabis charges appeared in the Rotorua District Court this week.
Crown solicitor Amanda Gordon told Judge Joanne Wickliffe the charges against the accused, as was the case with many of the others charged, would be dismissed once they were deported.
The summary of facts documents said the syndicates were operating in “an ever-increasing landscape” in New Zealand.
The documents said the Vietnamese syndicates established businesses in industries such as construction, beauty and hospitality to launder their criminal proceeds.
Rotorua police have busted a commercial-scale drug operation.
Profits obtained through the supply of cannabis were filtered through legitimate businesses, frequently owned or linked to other Vietnamese gang syndicate members.
The Vietnamese gangs’ linked businesses are used to sponsor visas to bring Vietnamese workers to New Zealand.
The summaries said some of the workers believed they were travelling to New Zealand for legitimate employment and entered into significant debt to do so, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
The summaries said the Vietnamese gangs operated the same way around the world – buying leases in residential areas and using the houses for the sole purpose of cultivating cannabis.
They have been known to pay above-market rents to secure tenancy agreements and use fake or stolen passports for identification purposes, the summaries said.
Rotorua police during the local raids on July 28.
The Vietnamese gangs use a hierarchical system where those at the top of the operations typically isolate themselves from criminal activity and are therefore difficult to identify, the police summaries said.
Low-level syndicate members, including the 14 arrested in Rotorua, were responsible for running the cannabis grow houses and day-to-day care of crops, the documents stated.
The summaries said these “crop sitters” or “gardeners” tend to be caught by authorities.
Their jobs include maintaining the crops at one or more cannabis grow houses. They don’t necessarily live at the houses but might stay overnight occasionally.
The summaries said crop sitters or gardeners were often illegally in New Zealand, and some had been “trafficked” for the sole purpose of working for the Vietnamese gangs.
Raids in Rotorua
The Rotorua Organised Crime Unit ran Operation Harvey between October last year and July.
It targeted local Vietnamese gang members by analysing their cellphones and financial records, and in some cases people were under surveillance or had their vehicles tracked by police.
The operation ended with raids at the properties on July 28.
In one of the cases before the courts this week, the man was a Vietnamese national in New Zealand on an expired visa.
The summary of his case said the man lived at a house on Miller St. While the house wasn’t being used to cultivate cannabis, this property and another on Ruihi St were used as “safe houses”, where members of the syndicate would meet.
The man was under police surveillance and was seen at Bunnings Rotorua buying equipment used for cultivating cannabis, the summary said.
It said that when police raided his home, the equipment and other items, including shades, lamps, transformers, cables and socket boards, were found in a shed.
In a bedroom, officers found 40lbs (18.1kg) of cannabis head material packaged in 1lb vacuum-sealed bags, it said.
According to the Massey University New Zealand Drug Trends Survey, a pound (448g) of illegal cannabis in New Zealand this year was priced at just over $2500, meaning the cannabis found at this man’s house would have been valued at more than $100,000.
In another case in court this week, a charged man had sought refugee status.
Throughout the operation, detectives had watched him come and go at an Otonga Rd property, the summary said.
When police raided the house, they found a sophisticated cannabis cultivation set-up and 174 plants, the summary said.
Police also raided the Ruihi St “safe house” and found several syndicate members there.
Police found five large bags of good-quality cannabis heads. The combined weight was 13kg, or 30lbs (about $75,000 worth of cannabis according to the drug trends survey).
A woman, described in court documents as the wife of the man who lived at Miller St, has also been deported. She was charged with possession of cannabis for supply after being found at the house when police raided it on July 28.
The summary said she told police she “doesn’t go into that room” and didn’t know anything about the cannabis.
Power theft alleged
The summary said electricity at the Otonga Rd property had been stolen from the mains supply by bypassing the electricity meter. This resulted in unmetered power being supplied to the property.
The summary said the unlawful diversion of electricity presented an “inherent and substantial risk of fire, electrocution and damage to the property”.
Police say the syndicate were stealing power and creating a fire hazard.
The national operation
Operation Blackout, led by the National Organised Crime Group, raided 19 properties in Auckland – including Flat Bush, Howick, Sylvia Park, Wiri and Massey – at the end of last week and arrested 12 people.
Police said in a statement this week that Immigration New Zealand and New Zealand Customs supported them.
Police said the operation had provided “unprecedented insight” into the sophisticated criminal operation based out of Auckland suburbs.
Detective Senior Sergeant John Brunton said the investigation went beyond suburban cannabis grow house operations.
Brunton said a 36-year-old Flat Bush man, who police allege is the kingpin of the operation, faces six charges.
During search warrants in Auckland, police seized about $1.25 million worth of cannabis and $80,000 in cash.
Several large bags of MDMA pills were also seized.
So far, the nationwide 10-month operation had seized more than five tonnes of cannabis at more than 50 rental properties.
The statement said 11 Vietnamese nationals, acting as crop-sitters, had been deported. Five others remain in New Zealand, pending prosecution.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.