news, crime

Police are shutting down an increasing number of clandestine drug laboratories and cannabis "grow houses" in the ACT, but these remain relatively rare in the national capital. Statistics released to the Sunday Canberra Times show ACT Policing has shut down just two clandestine drug laboratories since the start of 2016, but both have been uncovered in the last six months. Since 2016 they have also busted 11 sites used to cultivate cannabis, with eight of those found since the start of last year. An ACT Policing spokesman said the recent spike was "an indication of intelligence-led policing, combined with strong community support". "In many cases, it is community information combined with existing intelligence holdings that have led to the discovery of the enterprise," he said. "Initiatives such as the Dob in a Dealer campaign run in conjunction with Crime Stoppers also provide important intelligence." The spokesman described cannabis cultivation in the ACT as "a recognised criminal problem". "Cannabis cultivation is a major funding mechanism for a number of organised crime groups," he said. "These groups rely on multiple small-scale growers to grow on their behalf, known as crop-sitting. "Cash flow derived from ‘crop-sit’ operations is likely to be re-invested into the capability of organised crime to make profits from other drug types. "The market for cannabis is of strategic importance to organised criminal groups and they strive to streamline strategies to keep market prices steady but lucrative." The spokesman said while clandestine drug laboratories were relatively rare in the capital, they were also often linked to organised crime groups. The problem of drug manufacture and cultivation is spread across the ACT, with no suburb represented twice among the 13 drug labs and grow houses shut down since the start of 2016. One of the clandestine laboratories was in a 19-year-old man's dormitory room at the University of Canberra's Cooper Lodge in Bruce. It was discovered on October 30 last year after a chemical explosion and police allege it was used to manufacture MDMA, or ecstasy. The other was discovered in a shed at the back of a home on Wilkins Street in Mawson on March 22. Police allege a 32-year-old man who lived at the home was using the lab in an attempt to manufacture methamphetamine. Since the start of 2016, police have seized 972 cannabis plants from eight grow houses across the capital. Plants and other equipment were taken from a further three grow houses, but the exact number was not disclosed. In 2016, police shut down grow houses in Richardson and Fraser, followed by one in Narrabundah in 2017. They had a much busier year in 2018, uncovering cannabis cultivation in Oaks Estate, Chisholm, Monash, Duffy, Spence and Macgregor. So far this year, officers have found grow houses in Gungahlin and Downer. Last month, the Sunday Canberra Times revealed police in the ACT were dealing with a record number of illicit drug offenders, bucking a national trend that had seen two straight years of decline. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show police in the capital took action against 609 illicit drug offenders in 2017-18, more than double the 302 they initiated proceedings against in 2008-09. The local increase was driven by significant jumps in recent years, with 197 more offenders last financial year than in 2015-16. Nationally, the number of illicit drug offenders has dropped in each of the past two fiscal years, with a 4 per cent year-on-year decline in 2017-18.

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