A man was charged with supplying equipment and advice to cannabis growers, as a consequence, police have frozen his $1m home and nearly $190,000 belonging to him. Michael Quinlan, the Switched On Gardener owner, insisted that he would chase the Crown for millions of dollars in lost earnings, provided his Company collapsed and he succeeded in defending the allegation.

Quinlan is the owner of the 16 Switched On Gardener stores. Police sought restraining orders against him, in the High Court at Auckland this week.

The police had seized $189,000 in a bank account, the very money that he had planned to invest in his business, revealed Quinlan to the Weekend Herald.

His Gulf Harbour home has also been restrained by police, which means that he can not sell the home or borrow money against it.

He said, "You can't have people accused of major crimes selling their assets off. But I'm not guilty of any crimes and I don't intend to sell my home. We are going to fight that. The bank had instructed me to use that money to prop up the business".

Switched On Gardener chain is earning $16 million, revealed the fifty year old Quinlan. Police raided 35 businesses and many homes at the end of a two-year undercover investigation, named Operation Lime.