Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jan 2002
Source: Cambridge Reporter, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2002 The Cambridge Reporter
Contact:  http://www.cambridge-reporter.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1470
Author: Mary-Louise Skornyak
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

POT OPERATION SPARKED GALT BLACKOUT

126 East Galt Customers Were Without Power For As Long As 14 Hours

It wasn't the Grinch who stole the power in a Cambridge neighbourhood two 
days before Christmas, it was a sophisticated illegal marijuana growing 
operation.

A total of 126 customers in The Greenway neighbourhood in east Galt were 
without power, some for 14 hours on a chilly Dec. 23.

The blackout led Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro and Waterloo Regional 
Police to an illegal pot garden inside an upstairs bedroom and basement of 
a modest three-bedroom bungalow at 66 The Greenway.

On Christmas Eve, police seized 177 marijuana plants, $15,000 worth of 
growing equipment and about $1,200 in cash.

A 46-year-old man of Vietnamese descent was arrested in the raid. Police 
later learned he was in Canada on a visitor's visa with an Australian passport.

John Grotheer, the manager of Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro, said some 
grow houses use 10 times the amount of electricity a normal house would 
use. It's a dead giveaway to hydro officials who monitor residential usage 
rates in co-operation with police.

For this reason, many drug operations - including the one at 66 The 
Greenway - hot-wire the home's electrical system to bypass the meter.

It was possibly a botched bypass or an overload of the system that caused 
the blackout which cost Hydro about $10,000 in repairs and another $10,000 
in stolen electricity, Grotheer said.

"This is a serious problem that costs all of us in direct dollars and on 
our power bills," Grotheer said.

The Christmas Eve pot bust brings to 68 the number of similar illegal 
pot-growing operations police and hydro officials have shut down in 
Waterloo Region since June 2000.

But the head of the regional police drug squad said again yesterday that 
investigators are only scratching the surface.

"No matter where you live in Waterloo Region, you can walk to (a pot house) 
within 10 minutes of your home," said Staff Sergeant Ray Massicotte.

Two years ago police would uncover the odd pot growing operation here, but 
now police estimate there are another 200 in operation across the region.

Illegal marijuana growing is big business, with each grow house estimated 
to produce about $1 million of the drug per year. Massicotte said the 
people operating the ones here are part of an organized crime cell. About 
90 per cent of those already charged are of Vietnamese decent. This is at 
least the third case involving foreigners visiting Canada.

"We're doing what we can with the resources we have," Massicotte said.

"The problem just isn't a police one, it's a community problem. The only 
way we'll be able to solve it is by the community working together. The 
police can't do it alone."

Two days before Christmas about 125 residents in and around The Greenway 
woke up with no electricity. The phones at the Cambridge hydro office 
started ringing off the hook around 8 a.m.

In total, 73 customers in East Galt were without power for 14 hours and 53 
more residences and businesses were without electricity for seven hours. 
Some of those affected said they were inconvenienced because many were also 
left without heat. Some ended up storing their food outside, others spent 
the day with relatives.

The electrical problem was eventually traced to 66 The Gateway. When Hydro 
investigators went in to check the problem, they discovered the marijuana.

Before police could go in, hydro workers had to make the home safe. A 
tangle of live wires were strung from the ceiling of a bedroom and in the 
basement. Then officers wearing protective clothing and breathing 
apparatuses searched the house, which was laden with vats of toxic chemical 
pesticides and fertilizers. In the end officers carried out a truck full of 
marijuana plants in various stages of growth and huge heat lamps and 
reflectors.

Some residents on The Greenway, a middle class court off Glamis Road that 
is home to modest single and semi-detached homes, told The Reporter they 
weren't surprised by the drug raid on their street. The house was sold 
about a year ago and the lone male resident was rarely home and kept to 
himself. The blinds were always kept drawn on the main floor windows. And 
when people did come to visit, it was usually at night and then cars would 
come and go from the home.

Despite their suspicions, nobody called police or CrimeStoppers 
anonymously, Massicotte said. "They didn't want to be bad neighbours, I guess."

Instead, they're lucky they weren't hurt, he says.

The pot houses have been blamed for two fires, one on Scott Road in 
Cambridge and another in Kitchener where the residents and their two 
children barely escaped with the clothes on their backs. To date, about 15 
children under the age of 10 have been taken into care by Family and 
Children's Services after their parents were arrested and they were found 
playing around fire, electrical and chemical hazards.

In addition, there's the natural spinoff drugs brings - guns and possible 
violence.

"I guess it falls on the public's shoulders. How much are they willing to 
tolerate in their neighbourhoods? We rely on their help" for information, 
Massicotte said.

Yesterday the brown brick house at 66 The Gateway sat empty with the mail 
box overflowing with flyers and letters. There was still food left out on 
the kitchen table, a china tea set sat undisturbed on the coffee table in 
the living room. A snow-covered blue Mazda hatchback was parked in the 
driveway.

Several neighbours contacted by The Reporter yesterday were reluctant to 
talk openly out of fear for themselves and their children because a drug 
ring was operating across the street from their homes. One resident runs a 
legitimate home-based business next door to the pot house, another 
neighbour across the street is a corrections officer.

Although many of the homes previously raided were unoccupied but had just 
enough furnishings to "appear" lived in, it looks as though someone did 
live in The Greenway house at least part of the time. Blanket-covered 
mattresses lay on the floor in two of the three bedrooms, along with some 
personal items, such as clothing and a gym bag. There were appliances in 
the small kitchen and a sofa in the living room.

Neighbours say the yard was tended and garbage put out to the curb 
regularly. It's what they didn't see that has residents worried today.

Hau Van Do, 46, was arrested and charged with production of a controlled 
substance, possession of an illegal substance for the purpose of 
trafficking, theft of electricity and possession of the proceeds of crime. 
Do was held in custody after his first court hearing in Kitchener federal 
court Dec. 25. His next court appearance is tomorrow.
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