Nicholas Nader, 31, of McNabb Crescent, Griffith, was refused bail on a charge of cultivating a large commercial quantity of a prohibited plant and will reappear in Wagga Local Court on Monday.

The hearing followed the appearance of three members of a Tabbita family – Andrew Edgar Litchfield, 60, Millian Litchfield, 59, and Heath Edgar Litchfield, 38, who were each granted bail on various drug charges.

On Wednesday morning, as part of a massive three-day drug eradication operation, 20 officers raided a Myall Park Road vineyard after a marijuana crop hidden among the vines was spotted from a police aircraft.

A search of the farm uncovered 1494 mature marijuana plants fed by a sophisticated drip irrigation system with an estimated street value of $2,988,000.

Nader told police he was the sole leaseholder of the 700-acre property and that he had grown the crop “to get ahead in life”.

He said he found a jar of marijuana seeds in an abandoned house in Melbourne and had began growing the plants before transplanting them to the Beelbangera farm.

While Nader admitted other people worked on the farm, he would not give their details to police for fear “they would be implicated in the offence”.

In a separate raid, police arrested husband and wife Andrew and Millian Litchfield on Monday after seizing 27 plants, 30.8 kilograms of marijuana and $19,400 in $50 and $20 notes from a Tabbita property.

The couple were charged with cultivating, possessing and supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

Their son, Heath Litchfield of Hillston Road, Tabbita, was charged with cultivating and possessing a prohibited plant after police uncovered 26 plants and 2.1 grams of marijuana.

All three are set to reappear in Griffith Local Court on April 7.