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'Football Fields' Of Pot Discovered
Pubdate: Tue, 26 Jul 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
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
'FOOTBALL FIELDS' OF POT DISCOVERED
IROQUOIS FALLS, ONT. (CP) -- Police in Northern Ontario have charged a
Toronto man after they found marijuana fields stretching "three football
fields in length" in what is considered to be one of Canada's largest pot
busts.
Investigators found more than 21,000 marijuana plants behind a house
nestled in the woods of Iroquois Falls, east of Timmins.
Officers with the Ontario Provincial Police, North Bay police and a canine
unit carried out a search warrant Sunday.
"We had a marijuana field approximately three football fields in length by
one football field wide," said Detective Sergeant Bill O'Shea, a unit
commander with the OPP's drug-enforcement section.
"Plants were planted in straight rows just like any other crop."
No pains were taken to conceal the growing operation, said Det. Sgt.
O'Shea, who described the operation as one of the biggest he has ever seen.
"I've been in drug enforcement for approximately 15 years and this is one
of the largest outdoor grows I've ever been involved in."
He said the operation is part of a burgeoning trend among marijuana growers
who are moving away from the suburban neighbourhoods of Southern Ontario
where grow-ops have flourished, and into remote areas to avoid police
detection and increase profits.
"We have people from all over the province who seem to come to Northern
Ontario, this year in particular, who are involved in the commercial
growing of marijuana," he said.
"With property values in the South, I think the main drive is your dollar
goes a lot further . . . ."
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