German Garden Gnome. Image: Colibri1968 at English Wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.

A police raid in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand has found 300 stolen garden ornaments, most of which are believed to be linked with the dealing of methamphetamine.

The property in the neighbourhood of Flaxmere was visited by police on Tuesday.

They were assisting a utilities company to cut power to the house after it had accumulated a NZ $10,000 (£5,700) bill.

A wide range of garden ornaments were discovered around the property, from gnomes to pink flamingoes.

A number of them had been reported missing from various homes over the last few months.

Sgt. Cam Donnison told the New Zealand website stuff.co.nz:

It was obvious straight away that they were stolen… They are taking these items to hock off for methamphetamine.

While it remains to be confirmed as to whether the items in this house are connected to drug dealing, Sgt. Donnison has claimed that it is not uncommon for large pots to be sold for up to NZ$300 (£170).