Police apology after not so controlled marijuana incineration sent smoke wafting across car park

Police may have left residents in the New Zealand town of Turangi feeling a little high after a supposedly controlled burn of illegally grown cannabis sent smoke wafting through the streets on Friday.



Billowing clouds of marijuana-scented smoke were wafting from the town's police station, over the road and into the car park outside the local supermarket. Police bosses have apologised to the townsfolk for the accidental inundation of dope-laden vapours, which were emanating from a furnace at the police station where a recently-acquired haul of the illegal harvest was being incinerated.

However their fuming faux pas won't be forgotten for a while, thanks to video shot by a bemused passer-by. "Man, does it smell like the old ganja over there," he remarked. "Here comes a good cloud wafting past now. I might just stand here for a moment." Police chiefs, however, were not so thrilled about the gaffe.



"Unfortunately...given the conditions [and] the wind I understand the smoke did drift further than anticipated," Taupo Area Commander Warwick Morehu said. "I apologise on my staff's behalf to the community and we have already taken measures to change our practice and procedures going forward into the future. It is certainly not our intention to cause harm or alarm to our people in Turangi."

You can watch the video here.