Pubdate: Fri, 01 Apr 2005
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2005, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Petti Fong
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

RCMP FIND 19 GROW-OPS IN 90-UNIT TOWNHOUSE COMPLEX

VANCOUVER -- Dark secrets lurked inside the shiny new townhouses of 
Richmond's Cranberry Lane complex.

Triggered by their investigation into a botched home invasion, Richmond 
RCMP stumbled upon a apartment complex rife with grow operations, where 19 
out of 90 rental units were being used to cultivate pot.

"This is the biggest concentration of grow-ops in one residential area 
we've seen," Corporal Peter Thiessen said. "We've seen grow-ops in high 
rises, in single-family dwellings and now we're seeing them concentrated in 
townhouse complexes."

Police say it is another example of the unstoppable expansion of grow-ops 
in every neighbourhood in Greater Vancouver.

Most of the operations had already been dismantled by the renters in the 
townhouse complex on Muir Drive after police and the property manager 
posted a 24-hour warning that the premises would be entered.

Police found evidence that about one-fifth of the units in the complex were 
being used to grow marijuana. Although 12 of the grow-ops had already been 
dismantled, police discovered remnants of other operations, with heating 
lamps and abandoned holding pots.

Cpl. Thiessen said the 24-hour notice gave operators time to get rid of 
their pot, but police could not enter the rental units any sooner.

The pot-growing apartments were spread throughout the complex, with some 
next door to each other. The operators had interaction with each other, but 
each was independently run.

"We don't believe there was one operation being controlled by a central 
mother ship. They knew about each other in some cases," Cpl. Thiessen said 
yesterday.

Police learned about the pot-infested complex, which is located in a 
residential area of the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, as part of an 
investigation into another apartment building.

Three masked gunmen forced their way into an apartment on Sharpe Avenue in 
east Richmond on March 10, then realized they had barged into the wrong 
residence.

"We've got the wrong place," one of the gunman shouted before apologizing 
to the two residents and leaving.

That investigation led police to a non-active grow operation in the 
neighbouring apartment unit in the complex, which led to the discovery of 
four other grow-ops in the same building. Evidence uncovered at the Sharpe 
Avenue building took police to the second complex on Muir Drive where the 
19 grow-ops were found.

Police arrested three people and seized about 1,350 plants.

Cpl. Thiessen said criminals who target grow operations have become 
increasingly bold and violent. In the two Richmond apartment complexes, 
there was evidence criminals had beaten them to some of the units.

Police found forced entry into the electrical rooms in both buildings and 
believe that criminals figured out where to locate the marijuana 
cultivation based on hydro consumption. The average hydro used in a grow-op 
was $50 to $2,000 for a 60-day period, compared with a non-grow-op unit 
that averaged $100 for 60 days.

New attention has been focused on the national problem of grow-ops since 
the killing of four RCMP officers during a raid on an Alberta farm that had 
a small operation. Some MPs are now pushing for minimum sentences for those 
convicted of running these operations.

The problem of grow-ops is national in scale, but B.C. leads the country, 
accounting for 39 per cent of the marijuana-cultivation incidents reported 
to police nationally, according to a recent study by researchers at 
University College of the Fraser Valley.

The study -- based on an examination of 25,000 police files in British 
Columbia -- also painted a troubling portrait of the typical offender: an 
average of seven convictions and 13-year criminal histories; 41 per cent 
had convictions for violence and 10 per cent had guns at hand.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager