COLLIE Magistrates Court has been shown elaborate pictures of booby traps used to protect a cannabis crop in a local backyard.
Police were confronted with a range of dangerous booby traps using nails, fish hooks and razor blades when they raided the Mary Street house at 2.43pm on February 14.
During the search police found 14 large cannabis plants growing in different areas of the back yard.
When the officer approached a group of plants he stood on a wooden board with six-inch nails sticking out of it; one of the nails penetrated his rubber-soled boot.
The wooden board had been partially covered with soil and placed directly in front of one of the plants so it was easy to miss. As police went to pull one of the plants he located razor blades partially embedded in the trunk of three of the cannabis plants.
The blades were protruding vertically from the trunk with the razor edge facing outwards. A long length of fishing line was surrounding the cannabis plants about knee level. The fishing line had numerous hooks secured along its length.
Police said the items were concealed in a way that made them difficult to see and could have caused serious injury to police officers and others who had found the crop.
The incident is not the first time police have found crops with dangerous booby traps.
In January this year Collie Senior Sergeant Mike Dean warned people that marijuana crops in national parks were being protected by a range of intricate traps.
"Many of them are commercial operations and it is not unusual for them to be booby trapped, sometimes triggering firearms or fish hooks," he said.
Police have charged Luke William Sloan, 32, over the 14 cannabis plants found in the Mary Street garden.
He faced court charged with cultivating a prohibited plant but did not enter a plea.
