$500,000 crop house in Port

■ Police arrested a man after locating a cannabis crop house in Port Melbourne containing mature cannabis plants valued at more than half a million dollars.

Detectives from the Prahran Divisional Response Unit executed a search warrant at a Port Melbourne residential address, as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged large-scale cultivation and trafficking of cannabis in Port Melbourne.

Upon entering the property, investigators located a complex hydroponic cannabis crop house and seized more than 130 mature cannabis plants weighing approximately 150kg.

A further 1.5kg of bagged cannabis valued at $16,000 and a small amount of methamphetamine was also seized.

Police estimate the total street value of the seized cannabis is approximately $500,000.

A 55-year-old Port Melbourne man was arrested and charged with cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis. He was remanded to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (July 20).

Sergeant Grant Farley, Prahran Divisional Response Unit, said: “Victoria Police will continue to come down hard on anyone looking to line their pockets from cultivating or manufac- turing drugs. We know that the consequences of drugs out in the community can be detrimental, including road trauma caused by impaired drivers, flow-on mental health impacts and financially funding further criminal activity.

“This is why we are incredibly pleased to prevent such a large significant amount of illicit drugs from reaching the streets and causing harm to our community,” Sgt Farley said.