Pubdate: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2004, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/home.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Rob Lamberti, Toronto Sun Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) 4 MORE POT OPS NAILED 12 West Lodge Ave. Apartments Raided Four more marijuana grow operations have been discovered in a west-Toronto apartment complex. The Toronto Police 14 Division vice squad launched raids on Wednesday, bringing the number of scuttled grow operations at the apartment buildings at 103 and 105 West Lodge Ave. to an even dozen. The buildings are located in the Queen St.-Lansdowne Ave. area. Information about the drug businesses came from tenants after a raid on Sunday, when police found eight dope operations. Now, the next phase for police begins with work to identify and arrest the people who leased the apartments. Police seized about 1,200 plants in total from both raids. The total value of the marijuana is estimated at $600,000. The first eight units were located directly above and below each other and were linked by hundreds of feet of electrical wires. Police also found hydro boxes that rerouted power from the 240-volt plugs for stoves. "We had to bring in Toronto Hydro, because three of them were dangerously hooked up," 14 Division vice Det. Howie Page said. "Because of how sophisticated it is, our best belief is that it is connected with Asian organized crime," Page said. "All indications appear to be a Vietnamese ring." Some of the apartments also had exhaust systems connected with the buildings' ventilation system. "Unbelievable," said Page. "We methodically went through every unit from top to bottom in both units. All 12 were interconnected," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl