A top designer at the fashion company Insidious Fix is facing more drugs charges after police discovered a second cannabis cultivation operation at another Auckland warehouse.
The second bust was at a warehouse rented to Jason Crawford, 35, who had been arrested following a police raid at the fashion label's base on Monday.
He was released on bail after appearing in court on Tuesday but failed to report to police on Wednesday.
Police say Crawford was found hiding in a roof cavity in the second building.
In the first bust on Monday police found up to 1,000 plants and tens of thousands of dollars worth of cannabis heads in a warehouse in Onehunga after a tip-off from the public.
The heads have a street value of around $5,000 a pound and police say the total haul is worth up to $1 million. They also found a crossbow and a quantity of what appeared to be methamphetamine, or ice.
Police say the sophisticated operation was mainly hydroponic, with the cannabis plants ranging in size from seedlings to fully grown trees.
On Wednesday police and lines company Vector spent the day at the site of the bust and found a transformer which it believes may be drawing power from the local network and feeding into the cannabis operation and possibly into the Insidious Fix factory.
Police also discovered a secret tunnel in the building used by Insidious Fix, which adjoins the warehouse where the drugs were found.
Crawford has resigned as director of the fashion company and his lawyer Gary Gotlieb is doing his best to put distance between his client and Insidious Fix.
"He has signed this morning... and it has been given to the company... A letter of resignation as a director and he has apologised also to the company for the embarrassing situation he has put them in," says Gotlieb.
Crawford has a 50% share in the business.
The other half of the label, Kylee Davis, continues to decline interviews, but says she had no knowledge of the operation in the company's backyard.
Crawford was back in court on Friday morning charged with breaching bail, but he faces further charges.
"At the moment we really don't know what evidence the police have...we will see what there is and work out if we have a defence or don't have a defence," says Gotlieb.
Crawford
will now stay behind bars until he appears again on December
1.
