Inside the take-down of a major Albanian mafia marijuana operation – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

Viper taskforce detective acting Inspector Leigh Howse said Albanian crime syndicates were increasing their foothold in Australia’s cannabis and illicit drug markets.

“What we’ve seen in the last 10 years in Australia is a significant appetite for drugs of dependence, in particular the rise of cocaine and methamphetamine,” Howse said.

“Intelligence that we’re in possession of indicates that the commercial cultivation of cannabis, the profits derived from it, are utilised within serious and organised crime groups to fund drug importations.”

Police intelligence obtained by The Age indicates Albanian organised crime is staging a takeover of large-scale marijuana cultivation, pushing out smaller and less violent groups.

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The funds from these operations are being used to flood the Australian market with cheap cocaine, a move that police believe is linked to shootings, bashings, and firebombings with rivals in outlaw motorcycle gangs like the Comancheros.

Howse said the grow operations disrupted this week were highly sophisticated, allowing syndicate members to grow hundreds of plants inside confined spaces.

The syndicate is suspected of using professional facilitators such as experienced electricians to set up the network of grow houses and bypass the electricity system.

In one of the properties, the syndicate drilled through the concrete floor of the garage to run a power cable underground and connect it to the power substation in the block next door.