FIVE men involved in one of WA’s biggest cannabis crops found last year at Kokeby, about 10 kilometres southeast of Beverley, on Thursday, January 5 last year were sentenced last week in the Perth Magistrates Court.

Detectives from the Wheatbelt district assisted by the drug and firearm squad charged the five men after a search warrant was executed on the rural property more than a year ago.

Officers attended the property on Bellrock Road and located more than 2000 cannabis plants and in excess of 120 kilograms of dried cannabis, estimated to be worth about $6 million.

The five men, all foreign nationals, aged 49, 47, 43, 30 and 28 were found guilty of possessing and cultivating cannabis with intent to sell or supply.

All were sentenced to jail for at least five years and one sentenced to seven years and 10 months, with judge Charlotte Wallace saying that while none of the five men were likely to have received a percentage of the profits, they had each played a significant and integral role.

Some of the men claimed they believed they had been tending to herbal plants, which was rejected by the court.

At the time, detective superintendent John Hutchison of the serious and organised crime division said the discovery of the crop was a substantial find for WA Police.

“This is a significant quantity of drugs to be seized and taken off the streets, produced as part of a plan to make huge profits for a serious organised crime group,” he said.

“These profits are utilised for the purposes of funding other serious crimes all of this contribute to causing harm to the community.

“These seizures break that cycle and disrupt the crime groups involved, ultimately reducing that harm.”

Vision and images of the cannabis crop can be downloaded via the link https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/t2gbMWmXS7