Pubdate: Fri, 12 May 2006
Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 The Chilliwack Progress
Contact:  http://www.theprogress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/562
Author: Jennifer Feinberg
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

GROW-OP ROW GETS BUSTED IN YARROW

A cluster of marijuana grow-ops were dismantled on Yarrow Central 
Road Thursday morning.

The action netted six arrests of local residents on the southwestern 
edge of Chilliwack.

Three homes were found to be active pot-producing sites, while the 
other two were believed to have been hastily deactivated, say Chilliwack RCMP.

Four of the houses were side by side along the main drag.

Two rifles were seized, along with a combined total of almost 400 
marijuana plants.

"As Yarrow is a small community, it is believed that most of these 
(grow-ops) are connected in some way," said RCMP Const. Steve Hiscoe.

Chilliwack Mayor Clint Hames said he was "delighted" by the arrests 
and the dismantled grow-ops, and hopes it was neighbours who reported 
the existence of the illegal grow-ops.

"The whole situation just speaks to the fact that some folks are just 
as stupid as they can get to think they could hide the existence of 
that many grow-ops in a small area," he fumed.

"If they think the neighbourhood is just going to stand by and be 
transformed by folks like this, well it just speaks to level of 
intelligence we're dealing with."

Hames characterized the criminal element involved in 
marijuana-growing as "misguided and arrogant" and added he's not 
aware of any recent increase in crime in Yarrow.

The Mounties say the proliferation of pot production in the Upper 
Fraser Valley is linked to organized crime and violence, and "the 
overriding goal" of the force is to ensure safe homes and safe 
communities for Chilliwack.

"We believe that marijuana use and the criminality that surrounds it 
harms individuals and communities," Hiscoe said. A major concern is 
that "more and more" loaded firearms are popping up when police are 
conducting investigations or searches, he added.

Police officers swarmed all over the Yarrow sites yesterday, removing 
key items for evidence from the detached houses after executing the 
search warrants.

A long-time resident, who agreed to be interviewed anonymously, 
called the grow-op situation "scary" in Yarrow.

Operators have simply gravitated from larger city centres into more 
rural areas in recent years, she said.

"It's just rampant out here," she said. "When I come home from work, 
and drive over the tracks, the marijuana is all I can smell because 
they vent them at night."

As a mother of three children, she's angered by the growing

number of grow-ops setting up shop in Yarrow because of public safety concerns.

"I'm against what it brings to the neighbourhood," she said.

"It's scary. We're just a small town out here."

Police say what was first thought to be a home invasion in Yarrow in 
April, was most likely a 'grow-rip,' when a grow-op is targeted by 
thieves for its valuable black-market bounty.

Six suspects, all Yarrow residents aged 16 to 54, were taken into 
police custody Thursday morning, confirmed Hiscoe.

These Yarrow Central Road addresses had either active or dismantled 
grow-ops within: 42558, 41964, 41958, 41950, 41932. Another grow-op 
containing 96 plants at 41975 Yarrow Central Road was taken down last week.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom