It’s pretty handy to have a nose for trouble - especially when you’re a police officer on a foot patrol.
Mataura Constable Brett Dillon has been putting in the steps recently, making every effort to walk through the community he serves, stopping to chat with locals - and sometimes just following his nose.
“I was on a recent foot patrol when a very pungent scent of cannabis was evident, even from the footpath,” says Brett.
It was difficult to tell which property the smell was coming from but further investigation and monitoring from the street proved helpful.
“We began to make enquiries, and then we noticed what appeared to be a false wall in an external garage on the property very close to where the strong smell of cannabis came from.”
This was exactly what was needed to get the ball rolling for a search warrant. Gore Constable Nicole Mcleod led the organisation of the warrant and drew on local staff to assist.
The team - comprising Gore and Mataura staff - executed the warrant at the Mataura property and quickly discovered the source of the strong scent.
Gore Sergeant Chris Dunbar was there to discover a significant drug operation in action, but that wasn’t all.
“With the initial search of the garage we found three drug grows set up with 44 plants of various sizes and lots of equipment for hydroponic cannabis cultivation," he says.
“This led us to search the house, which uncovered more cannabis seedlings, but also two illegally held firearms and plenty of ammunition.”
This included a dismantled shotgun hidden in a couch.
And still, that wasn’t all. A phone was seized which led Wyndham Senior Constable Nicky Herbert to conduct some very swift enquiries and coordination with Invercargill CIB.
The information Nicky was able to retrieve from the phone led to another warrant being executed at an Invercargill property, resulting in the seizure of further illegally held firearms and an even larger cannabis grow operation.
From these searches, two people were arrested.
“This is a really good result for Mataura and Invercargill and shows the importance of local police working alongside their communities,” says Chris.
“Removing a significant drug operation that can cause a lot of social harm is one thing but to get the danger of illegally held firearms out of the wrong hands is very satisfying and removes a lot of risk to our communities.”