Major pot garden busted

A Newport Beach man was arrested inside his home Friday afternoon after police received a tip there was a marijuana-growing operation inside the house.

Narcotics detectives arrested Vladimir Srebink, 29, after they served a search warrant at his Cambridge Lane home in the Westcliff area of Newport Beach.

Police had received the tip Thursday by a vigilant neighbor who noticed several suspicious signs that there was more to the home than met the eye, said Detective John Freeman.

The home was a rental with all the windows covered, several vents in the home and the garage roof and lattice lining the backyard walls blocking neighbors’ view over.

One neighbor said he rarely saw anyone there and detectives said there was barely any furniture inside. There were several air conditioners inside the garage.

Two bedrooms and the garage had been converted into grow rooms for the roughly 200 marijuana plants seized, detectives said.

Detective Damon Psaros said had all the plants matured, it would have equaled about 52 pounds of hydroponic marijuana worth more than $100,000. Detective Matt Graham and Psaros led the search.

Hydroponic marijuana grows in water rather than soil, which is costlier and more time consuming to grow, authorities said.

Had it not been for a call from a neighbor, “we would’ve never known about this,” Freeman said.

“The people who live here know the neighborhood better than anyone. It’s a team effort, the neighborhood and PD.”

“If it’s suspicious, report it,” Psaros added.