A theft from a blue gum plantation has led police to uncover a cannabis grow-house, weapons and 30 cubic metres of stolen wood at a Heywood property.
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Michael Short, 47, of Hauslers Lane, Heywood, appeared in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Monday charged with offences, including cultivating cannabis, theft and possessing a weapon as a prohibited person.
The court heard that on March 23, Branxholme police received reports of four large native gum trees being cut down and a substantial amount of wood stolen from a plantation located on the Henty Highway, north of Branxholme.
The incident was captured on CCTV footage and police identified Mr Short as the alleged offender.
That lead officers to execute a search warrant at the man's home at 1.40pm on Friday.
The court heard police located 30 cubic metres of cut wood, a Stihl chainsaw, a trailer, live ammunition belonging to multiple different firearms, a centre-file rifle, a set of digital scales, a large quantity of digital scales and $8045 cash believed to be the proceeds of crime.
Police also located six large cannabis plants, 24 cannabis seeds and dried plant weighting over two kilograms, as well as 30 high-powered lights believed to be used in a hydroponic grow-house.
Inquires with Powercor revealed the power supply at the property had been bypassed a number of times in the past 12 months.
At the time of the alleged offending, Mr Short was awaiting a court hearing over unrelated charges of drug trafficking and driving while disqualified.
That offending related to an alleged incident on November 5 last year when the accused was intercepted by police on the Henty Highway at 1.22am.
His licence was suspended and a search of his vehicle uncovered 244 grams of cannabis.
He told police he had received the cannabis from a friend to sell as he did not have any money to repay a debt.
In a self-represented bail application, Mr Short said he needed to be released from custody in order to look after his partner and his property.
He said the stolen wood was already cut down and dead when he found it.
But magistrate Jon Klestadt said "anyone who lives in the country knows you can't just walk onto someone else's property and take wood".
"You are not entitled to take things that don't belong to you. Especially something like this which is easily saleable," he said.
The magistrate said he was not satisfied the man had shown compelling reasons why he should be released on bail and remanded him in custody until April 23.
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