Portland Police arrested a Melbourne man and seized around 300 cannabis plants today as part of Operation Highrise, which is focused on targeting high-end drug-related offending in the area.
As part of the local operation, detectives arrested a 40-year-old man from Melbourne and charged him with one count of cultivating commercial quantities of cannabis after a raid on a Portland property earlier today.
He has been remanded in custody and will appear in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court at a later date.
Today's arrest follows hot on the heels of seven other raids of drug or crop houses across Horsham, Hamilton and Portland over the past couple of months.
These raids have resulted in more than two and a half million dollars' worth of cannabis being seized and seven additional people being arrested and charged.
All seven of these people were charged with cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis, as part of a combined twenty charges. All persons have been remanded in custody and will appear in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court at a later date.
Portland and Hamilton police units including the Divisional Tasking Team and Criminal Investigation units joined forces to execute these warrants.
Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Asenjo said today's arrest was part of a continued co-ordinated approach to stamp out those producing drugs across Horsham, Hamilton, Portland and Warrnambool.
"Since March, we have seized almost 1,500 cannabis plants and around 10kg of cannabis head, totalling a street value of more than two and half million dollars.
"Any opportunity to disrupt criminal networks moving significant quantities of drugs is a huge win for the community.
"We will continue to target drug-related offenders in Victoria's south-west and won't rest on our laurels because we know there are other people involved in illegal activities out there."
