TURNAROUND: Sandra McMahon amassed millions of dollars from cannabis dealing before being jailed in 2012. She has now been freed, and says she is penniless.

A grass-dealing granny who made millions selling marijuana from her Wellington flat is out of jail and says she has lost everything.

Sandra Jacqueline McMahon, a superannuitant at the time of her sentencing in 2012, was sent to jail for six years and nine months after pleading guilty to five charges of possessing cannabis for supply, one of money laundering and one of selling cannabis.

Her son Craig was also arrested during the raid and sentenced to five years and nine months.

After her arrest, it was revealed McMahon would pick up pounds of cannabis at a time for sale, often in supermarket car parks. Intercepts of phone orders showed the pair were making 22 sales a day, and had up to 150 regular customers.

Police originally estimated that over a period of seven years, the pair made $7.9 million.

After her early release from prison yesterday, McMahon said the fortune was long gone.

"I'm homeless, I'm penniless and I'm 71 years old. I'm just lucky I've got a nice family. I'm happy to be out with my family."

However, police are still chasing assets linked to the pair, and are seeking consent to seize a house owned by her daughter in Australia.

These proceedings have held up the transfer of about $3.4m to a Crown fund for services that address causes of offending and help victims.

Once the transfer is finalised, the McMahons' drug-dealing fortune will be the biggest criminal proceeds haul seized in the Central policing district, and among the largest in New Zealand.

Central assets recovery head Senior Sergeant Brent Murray said police now believe that the pair moved about $20m through their operation.

They did not use drug-runners and relied on Sandra McMahon's sharp memory. "That is probably why they never attracted attention from the gangs," Murray said. "We found a client list, but really she conducted her business from her own recall."

When McMahon's Newtown flat was searched, $42,000 in cash and 16 pounds of cannabis were recovered.

That house is in limbo. The family have consented to the Crown's sale of the other restrained properties in their trust, but police are still negotiating with her daughter, from whom they have not heard for "several months", and who is not facing charges.

"We have had indications from her solicitors she consents for the properties being forfeited, except for the address her mum had been living in," Murray said.

Police had to be able to show there was some knowledge of illegal activity at the address. "If you've got a landlord who knows they've got tenants dealing in one of their properties, and proof they knew it was happening, then that property could be subject to restraint and seizure.

"There are some financial transactions of concern to us."

Police have applied to a judge to finalise the transfer of the remainder of the millions in the meantime.

The Parole Board said McMahon had come to terms with the harm she had caused.

She had had a "profound" change in thinking and "will have nothing to do with drugs".

Craig McMahon appeared for his first parole hearing in July, but was denied release.