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Possums help in dagga crackdown
21/02/2006 10:00 - (SA)
Wellington - New Zealand police have an unusual ally in their annual crackdown on the country's illegal marijuana harvest - possums.
"They love it, absolutely love it," detective John Nicholls, of Motueka, told the Nelson Evening Mail after returning from a week-long police and air force helicopter hunt for pot plants at the top of the South Island.
He said one crop was "chewed to bits - it was the worst I've ever seen".
Growers use electric fences, cyanide paste and traps to keep out the furry animals which are protected in their native Australia but are officially declared a pest in New Zealand where they ravage trees and food crops.
Police on the helicopter hunt centred on the Golden Bay region, where marijuana thrives in conditions of hot sunshine and regular rain, and seized about 5 000 plants worth millions of dollars on the illicit drug market, the paper said. -Sapa-dpa
- SAPA
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