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. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager