Trap-door to a drug bunker: How crims managed to build a drug lab under INSIDE a hill - complete with bush camoflauge  

Officers discovered a buried shipping container growing dozens of cannabis plants

Police on the north coast of NSW made an incredible discovery on Tuesday when they uncovered an advanced drug bunker hidden metres beneath the ground on a property in Kremnos, north of Coffs Harbour on the state's mid-north coast.

Officers uncovered the secret drug bunker after unseasonable bushfires swept through the area at the weekend, destroying some homes.

The covert cannabis crop was being grown hydroponically inside a buried shipping container about 100 metres from a home located on McGills Road in Coffs Harbour.

The 68-year-old male property owner has been placed under arrest and is assisting police with their enquiries at Grafton Station.

Detective Inspector Darren Jameson,Crime Manager from the Coffs-Clarence Local Area of Command, Detective told Daily Mail Australia the man 'will be charged with cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis plants and supplying cannabis'.

Officers seized 118 cannabis plants from inside the buried shipping container with a potential street value of $590,000 and a further 1.127 kilograms of dried cannabis worth around $28,175.

The entry to the container was through a small hatch atop a mountain of dirt in a fairly densely wooded area behind the house.

Inside the bunker it was revealed there was an advanced hydroponics set-up complete with large cannabis plants, overhead lights and an array of chemicals used to cultivate the plants.

Officers were alerted to the operation during their walk through when they saw power cords running along the ground and disappearing beneath the earth into the mound of dirt.

The bunker is fully fitted with electricity to operate the lamps and equipment needed to grow the drug hydroponically.

Plants of a variety of sizes and maturity line the walls of the hidden hideout, and dozens of pots cover the floor.

The container is thought to have been buried for years, so long that there were substantial sized trees growing on the dirt above it before some of them were destroyed in the bushfires at the weekend.

The underground operation has to be accessed by lowering oneself into the hole into a step ladder below. To get out presents more of a challenge as one has to haul themselves out of the container.

The home that sits on the property where the discovery was made was completely ruined by fire, but the shipping container was unaffected as it was completely underground.

The combined estimated value of the cannabis is worth $618,175.

The man has been bailed to appear at Grafton Local Court on the 15th September.

Detective Inspector Jameson said police do not believe the fire was started as a result of any of the 68-year-olds activity, but issued a warning to others in the area.

'This community has an underlying issue of drugs and alcohol that underpins most of our crimes.'

'The general warning is if you continue to be involved in the supply, cultivation, manufacture and use of illicit drugs, including cannabis, in this local area command you can expect a knock and the door and swift and strong action will follow', he said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2716322/The-incredible-drug-bunker-hidden-mountain-long-TREES-growing-it.html 05/08/2014