Wayne Leslie Kelb, 57, of Pershing St, said he had grown the marijuana crop in buried shipping containers at a Frankford sawmill in order to fund a hip operation. Kelb grew several crops of marijuana in three containers between February 2002 and February 2004, making nearly $13,000. Crown prosecutor Lang Goodsell said the containers had been buried beneath a sawdust pit and had sophisticated ventilation ducts and electricity running to them. They were found by police in a raid on the sawmill in February. Det-Const. Glen Evans, of Northern Drug Investigation Services, said the largest of the three containers had been built on site and was 13m long and 2.4m wide. In a police interview played to the court, Kelb said he had only made about $11,300, which just covered the cost of building the containers and growing the plants. "I wish I didn't get involved with it because I didn't make any money and still haven't had my hip done," he said on the video. Kelb said he had grown the crop under duress from a third party. He sat in the dock with his cane and shook his head as the seven-woman, five-man jury delivered its unanimous verdict. Defence lawyer James Kitto will offer a plea of mitigation today. Justice Ewan Crawford remanded Kelb in custody to appear for sentence at 2.15pm.