Swiss police detain hemp grower after finding 3,700 marijuana plants amid legal plants

Police in northeastern Switzerland have shut down an indoor hemp-growing operation and detained its operator after a search of the property unearthed cannabis plants and biomass that exceeded legal THC levels.

Thurgau police say they raided the Rothenhausen facility in February following a tip about suspected illegal activity. The property was registered as an indoor hemp growing facility to a 42-year-old Dutch man.

Criminal investigators examined the facility in the presence of the owner. An initial investigation indicated that the facility was growing marijuana, which led the public prosecutor’s office to order a search of the property.

In addition to harvested and processed hemp, investigators found approximately 3,700 marijuanashrubs and 12 kilograms (26.5 pounds) of prepared and packaged marijuana.

The plants and the marijuana were in violation of Swiss narcotics law on account of their THC content, police said.

Switzerland, a non-EU member state, allows  the cultivation of non-medical cannabis with THC levels below 1%.

The narcotics, the plants and the breeding equipment were seized, and Kreuzlingen public prosecutors in Thurgau have opened a criminal investigation.