Police say they are continuing to "actively" hunt down cannabis plantations in the popular dope-growing regions on the East Coast.

Officers seized and destroyed more than 10,000 cannabis plants over the past summer, about the same number as the previous year.

Police say the haul was taken from both public and private land across the Eastern policing district, which stretches from the top of the East Cape, down through the sunny Gisborne and Hawke's Bay regions renowned for providing ideal hemp-growing conditions.

A plane and a helicopter were used as "aerial support" over 10 days during this summer's recovery operations, which also netted nine rifles and shotguns and two stolen vehicles.

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"While methamphetamine related offending remains the primary focus of the Eastern District organised crime unit, cannabis cultivation and its related offending will continue to be actively policed," Detective Senior Sergeant Brent Greville said in a statement.

Throughout the operation "police received good feedback from rural communities, who were grateful for the work police were doing," he said.

Police said because they were currently in the process of preparing prosecution files following the summer's operation, they were unable to say how many people had been arrested during the East Coast drugs sweep.