TIMES ONLINE: To most keen gardeners, a trip to the local garden centre means little more than the purchase of some bedding plants, a bag of potting mix and perhaps some gardening tips.
But when undercover police called in at Switched on Gardener, a New Zealand chain of garden supply shops, the advice they were given had nothing to do with rose blight. Instead, they were allegedly given tips on how to cultivate cannabis, and were able to buy cannabis plants and other drugs over the counter.
The 16-store chain, described by police as forming part of the backbone of the country's $800 million cannabis industry has now been closed down after one of the country's biggest ever anti-drugs crackdowns[.]
During a two-year operation police also raided 19 other gardening businesses across New Zealand arresting 250 people and dismantling over 100 commercial cannabis growing operatinos [sic] allegedly linked to the businesses. >>> Anne Barrowclough, Sydney | Wednesday, April 28, 2010
