A SYDNEY man who’s pleading guilty to playing a role in a $4 million drug crop at Windellama will be sentenced this month. Joshua Jack Clarke, 25, appeared via audio visual link in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday. He has been in jail since his arrest on November 12 last year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He pleaded guilty to enhanced indoor cultivation of cannabis for a commercial purpose and organising, conducting or assisting a drug premises (first offence). The Department of Public Prosecutions withdrew a third charge – cultivation of a large commercial quantity of cannabis.
The case, in which police found 2000 cannabis plants on an Oallen Ford property, gained state wide attention. Officers also alleged Clarke was an associate of the Bandidos outlawed motorcycle gang.
Police searched the property, which was owned by another person, last November 12. They discovered the plants being grown inside a shed and in an underground bunker.
They ranged from seedlings to 1.5 metre high plants, with a potential street value of $4m, police facts claimed.
A shed on the property was equipped with CCTV cameras on the outside, and inside police found growing lights, growing beds, fertilisers, electricity transformers, fans, humidifiers and ducting and hoses for irrigation.
Police said the cost involved in establishing such a “sophisticated growing system” and its upkeep meant it could only be for commercial gain.
The accused, who was with two other men at the premises, reportedly said to police on his arrest: “It’s all mine. I’m leasing the joint. It’s nobody’s but mine. These guys have nothing to do with it.”
He was taken to Goulburn Police Station, interviewed and charged.
On Wednesday Magistrate Mark Richardson adjourned the matter to Goulburn District Court on May 27 for committal.
A pre-sentence report will be prepared for that date. Asked by Magistrate Richardson whether he had a drug addiction problem, Clarke replied: “No.”
