Queenland police bust giant cannabis plantation as five men are charged and the crop is set ablaze

Police have arrested five men and seized $1.7million worth of drugs after busting two industrial scale cannabis plantations.

Queensland officers raided the plantations, which were located on two rural properties in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, on Tuesday.

Police seized a total of 4,851 cannabis plants at the first plantation before officers burnt the crops by laying them in a bundle with pieces of wood and setting the stack on fire. 

Police have arrested five men and seized $1.7million worth of drugs after busting two industrial scale cannabis plantations

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Five men at the property were arrested including three men in their 20s, one man in his 30s and one man in his 40s. Two of the men can be seen in police footage being escorted by police in handcuffs and put into the back of a paddy wagon

Five men at the property were arrested including three men in their 20s, one man in his 30s and one man in his 40s. 

Two of the men can be seen in police footage being escorted by police in handcuffs and put into the back of a paddy wagon. 

The men have been charged with producing dangerous drugs, possessing dangerous drugs and possessing anything used in the commission of a crime. 

They appeared in Ipswich Magistrates Court on Wednesday. 

The first plantation consisted of four greenhouses, cannabis plants, hydroponic growing chemicals and machinery allegedly used for large-scale production of the drug.

In total, 28 kilograms of dried cannabis was seized at the first location. 

A search warrant was later executed at a second property that was about a 15-minute drive north – or 13 kilometres away – from the first. 

A single greenhouse was discovered during the second search warrant and 144 plants were subsequently seized by police. 

Police seized a total of 4,851 plants or 28kg of cannabis at the first plantation and 144 plants at the second property 

Officers later burnt the plants by laying them in a bundle with pieces of wood and setting the stack on fire

The search warrants were executed by detectives from the Crime and Intelligence Command’s Drug and Serious Crime Group, with assistance from the Ipswich Tactical Crime Squad and Laidley police

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The search warrants were executed by detectives from the Crime and Intelligence Command’s Drug and Serious Crime Group, with assistance from the Ipswich Tactical Crime Squad and Laidley police. 

Police believe both plantations were being operated by a criminal syndicate for the large-scale production of cannabis.

‘This was a substantial cannabis production and we will continue targeting and dismantling such productions and the illicit proceeds of criminal syndicates given the risk they pose to the community,’ State Drug Squad Detective Acting Inspector Stephen Thiry said in a statement.

The investigation is ongoing.