More than 100 people from Otago and Southland were charged with cultivating cannabis in the past year as part of a national cannabis crime operation.
Nationwide, police discovered more than $300 million worth of cannabis between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008, the largest haul in five years of Operation Julia, an operation that targets commercial cultivators and distributors of cannabis by using aircraft.
This year, southern police staff took a different approach to the operation and organised their own flights, though still in conjunction with Operation Julia, Southern Police District crime manager Detective Inspector Ross Pinkham, of Dunedin, said.
The new approach was more aligned to the district's unique geographical size, and organising their own flights meant staff could better co-ordinate with other investigative work, he said.
A total of 112 offenders appeared in southern courts during the year, compared with five offenders arrested last year specifically linked to Operation Julia flights in the Southern district.
Police were pleased with the results of the new approach, which focused on identifying the offenders linked to plots as well as pulling plants.
The growing season was starting and police work targeting cannabis cultivation in the South would continue over the summer months, Det Insp Pinkham said.
Across the rest of New Zealand, police destroyed about 124,000 plants, 25% more than the previous season, national cannabis crime operations national co-ordinator Detective Senior Sergeant Scott McGill said.
They also destroyed 216kg of dried cannabis and found nine methamphetamine laboratories.
Police conducted more than 640 searches.
These led to 780 people arrested, 147 firearms seized and $439,000 worth of stolen property recovered, which were record numbers.
Similar figures for the Southern district's separate flying operations were not available.
Det Snr Sgt McGill attributed the success to good flying weather and targeted flying using intelligence gathered throughout the year.
