Items confiscated by the police from marijuana plantations have been put up for sale on behalf of the government, despite the ban on encouraging cultivation of the drug, the NRC reports.

Filters, ventilation systems, incubators and other items were included in a sale by auction house BVA Auctions at the end of April, the paper says. This would appear to contravene the new legislation which makes it a criminal offence to make it possible to grow marijuana illegally, the paper points out.

The finance ministry department in charge of the items, Dienst Domeinen, says their inclusion was a mistake and they were withdrawn.

Groningen University professor Nico Kwakman told the paper the sale of items such as ventilation systems highlights the grey areas in the new law.