Pubdate: Wed, 06 Dec 2006
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/include/letterToEditor.php
Website: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Author: Don Plant

HUGE POT SWEEP

A Sweep of Marijuana Grow-Ops Has Put a Dent in the Local Supply and 
Driven Some Growers to Uproot Their Plantations.

RCMP have dedicated six officers full-time to investigating and 
busting marijuana grow-operations in the Central Okanagan since Oct. 30.

Working with six other drug-section members, the Green Team raided 23 
grow-ops and seized 10,500 pot plants, worth an estimated $8.4 
million on the street.

Twenty-one people face trafficking and cultivation charges. Police 
are looking for 14 others.

"We have very reliable information that some of the marijuana growers 
this month have been dismantling their grow-ops because of (our) 
enforcement action," said Sgt. Tim Shields, who heads Kelowna's drug section.

"The word is definitely out there that we are kicking in doors . . . 
so we are making a dent."

Police found the larger crops in rural areas such as Joe Rich and 
June Springs Road. They seized smaller amounts from homes in 
Peachland, Westbank, Dilworth, Rutland, Black Mountain and the Lower Mission.

During one bust, an officer spotted a well-known member of an 
organized-crime group drive by. He went up a forest service road, met 
with another man and exchanged 40 pounds of dried marijuana bud for 
$100,000 cash. Both men were arrested.

One pot farm was hidden in a growing room under a concrete garage. 
The caretakers accessed it through a hidden door. Other grow-ops are 
set up in crawl spaces, Shields said.

Another in Oyama was set up in a large barn under 216 lights. Most of 
it had been dismantled. Only 660 plants remained, but the barn could 
accommodate 10,000 plants. Police seized equipment worth several 
hundred thousand dollars, Shields said.

"They had their own electrical substation with a large transformer to 
distribute power throughout the barn."

Most of the grow houses were rented. The owners either hire others to 
take care of the plants or look the other way, police say.

Grow-ops fund other criminal operations, posing a threat to public 
safety. They provoke murders and home invasions, said Const. Annie Linteau.

"Police are increasingly encountering loaded firearms of all types 
when conducting grow-op investigations or searches. You and I are at 
risk if there are turf wars between groups."

Residents have complained for years about grow-ops, but police often 
lack the manpower to bust them. The number of officers working for 
the city has grown to 123, allowing police to refocus on the problem, 
said Supt. Bill McKinnon.

"We haven't had the members to do the job. We finally felt we had the 
numbers to do it. Can we sustain it right now? No . . . Do we hope to 
do it in the new year again? Absolutely." Police estimate if each 
plant produced four ounces of smokable pot, the busted grow-ops could 
have generated more than 40,000 ounces or 1,138,592 grams.

Assuming a user smokes four joints per gram, the marijuana could 
supply each of the 10,600 students in local middle and secondary 
schools with one joint a day for 14 months, Linteau said.

Grow houses can blend into affluent neighbourhoods, but faulty wiring 
increases the risk of fire. The houses lower property values and 
increase our power bills, Linteau said.

Inside every grow-op are fungi, aphids, fertilizers and pesticides, 
Shields said. Users have no idea what chemicals they're smoking.

Worse, the grow-ops busted in November were linked to organized crime 
groups -- the Hells Angels, Independent Soldiers and Vietnamese 
gangs, Shields said. Much of the pot is smuggled into the U.S. 
despite increased border security since Sept. 11, 2001, and exchanged 
for cash or cocaine.

"That cocaine makes it back into our streets, our City Park," Shields 
said. "Your chances of being caught are greatly increased, but there 
definitely still is marijuana going south and cocaine coming north."

Shields produced a short video of a bust last week. It showed 
officers receiving a safety briefing to discuss who the suspects 
were, what weapons to expect and fortifications that might be inside.

Once they arrived in unmarked cars, the officers found the front door 
was fortified. They kicked in another door to find no one living 
there. Its sole purpose was to grow marijuana for profit, Shields said.

"In some cases, the houses are lived in with families and small children."

Most of the basement floor was covered with small plants and drying 
racks. The plants would have been ready for harvest in two months.

Large air-conditioning vents were punched through walls and chimneys. 
The heat generated by the 1,000-watt lights was "immense," Shields 
said. Electrical-bypass transformers on the wall were so hot, he 
couldn't touch them.

Irrigation lines snaked among the plants. The moisture caused black 
mould to form in the drywall.

The wiring from grow-ops can be deadly. Linteau said there were 15 
electrocutions related to grow-ops from 1995 to 2000. One in 10 
grow-ops sparks a fire, she said.

Police encourage residents to report neighbourhood grow-ops to Crime 
Stoppers (861-8477) or the RCMP (762-3300). Watch for frequent 
visitors at all hours, suspicious vehicles and people, strange 
odours, unusual wiring outside the house, humming noises, window 
coverings and snow-less roofs when others are covered.

More busts are slated for this week.

"Marijuana growers need to take note. If we haven't come for you yet, 
we will. It's only a matter of time," Shields said.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine