Michael Kevin Milne and another man have been sentenced to prison terms for running a large cannabis growing operation underground. Photo: RNZ/Nathan McKinnon
Two West Coast men found guilty of running a multi-million dollar cannabis operation in a huge underground bunker have been jailed.
The owner of Cowboy Paradise, a hostel and shooting range near Hokitika, Michael Kevin Milne, 68, and Ngahere man Anthony Wayne Harris, 77, were found guilty on a raft of charges in March.
Milne was sentenced on Thursday to six years' imprisonment on charges of cultivating cannabis, possessing cannabis for supply and selling the drug.
While Harris, who had been found guilty on firearms and other weapons charges, was sentenced to five years in jail.
Judge Paul Kellar described the operation as highly sophisticated.
The 240sqm bunker was buried 3m underground and accessed through a trapdoor in a shipping container. Its power usage was estimated to be about that of a commercial building.
It was buried in a secluded, bush clad area on Milne's property, Cowboy Paradise, an overnight stop about halfway between Kumara and Hokitika, on the popular West Coast Wilderness Cycleway.
Police uncovered the extent of the operation through a series of covert operations, leading to raids in 2019, which saw $5 million of assets seized, including firearms, cash, vehicles, property and machinery.
Officers found more than 800 plants, not including seedlings or harvested cannabis plants.
They also uncovered weapons, including knives, batons, pepper spray, nunchucks and knuckle dusters when searching Harris' property, which the crown said they had for protection.
Both men's lawyers highlighted their ages, and the added difficulties that would mean during their jail sentences.
Milne's lawyer, Anselm Williams, said Milne sought a sentence of home detention.
Police said the bunker, which could grow plants year round, could produce around 136kg (300lbs) of cannabis annually, with a street value of more than $1m.