Pubdate: Wed, 25 Oct 2000
Source: Richmond Review (CN BC)
Copyright: 2000 Richmond Public Library
Contact:  Unit 140 5671 No. 3 Road, Richmond, B.C.
Fax: (604) 606-8752
Website: http://www.rpl.richmond.bc.ca/community/RichmondReview/
Author: Martin van den Hemel

TEENS BREAK INTO GROW-OP

Three 16-year-old males were apprehended by police as they were 
trying to break into a marijuana grow operation at a house on the 
5500 block of Granville Road Wednesday afternoon around 1 p.m.

Brandishing a long knife and several garbage bags, the teens were 
spotted by a passerby as they attempted to enter the house through a 
window.

The incident has sparked a warning from Richmond RCMP that teenagers 
who are considering breaking into marijuana grow operations are 
placing themselves in a great deal of danger.

Larger marijuana grow operations are generally the handiwork of 
organized crime, which will take whatever steps are necessary to 
protect their investments, even murder, police say.

The house on Granville Road contained up to 400 plants, a size that 
Richmond RCMP Const. Peter Thiessen said generally indicates the 
involvement of organized crime.

The brazen nature of the break-in was also noteworthy.

Investigators believe the teens tried to break into the house even 
though they were aware that there was somebody inside.

Police arrested the middle-aged woman they found inside the house and 
her common-law husband, who arrived at the scene after police began 
investigating.

The couple has an 11-year-old daughter, but it wasn't known whether 
she was home at the time of the attempted break-in.

Thiessen said police intelligence indicates that some youth seem to 
think that they are doing police a favour by breaking into marijuana 
grow operations.

"They better think twice," Thiessen said.
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