HOMEOWNER HIT WITH $26,000 BILL

Marijuana-Growing Tenants Flee, Leaving Massive Hydro Tab

A Mississauga family has been hit with a $26,000 hydro bill because their
former tenants stole electricity to power an illegal marijuana lab.

The nightmare has left Amarbir and Arvinder Panjhazari with little choice
but to pay the bill. Enersource won't restore power to their house until
the company receives a certified cheque or money order.

Their insurance company will cover repairs to their house, but not the
hydro bill. But without power, contractors can't fix the estimated $60,000
to $70,000 worth of damage.

"We had nothing to do with this, but because we're the homeowners they say
it's our responsibility," said Gagan Panjhazari, the owner's 22-year-old
son. "Even though the hydro wasn't even in our name, it's our problem now.

"It's unbelievable. We don't know what we're going to do."

Peel Region police have dismantled more than 220 residential drug labs in
Mississauga and Brampton and arrested more than 300 people during the past
14 months.

But the people who rented the Tridom Court house in March, 2001, had
already skipped out when police came calling April 2.

"Unfortunately, unless they can track these people down and go after them
with civil court action, there's nothing they can do," said Superintendent
John Nielsen. "We have had an extremely difficult time tracking down the
occupants of rental properties in connection with these drug homes. Often
their information and references are bogus and their cellphones have been
dis-connected.

Police said it's conceivable at least four crops were harvested in the
house, with an estimated street value of $1.6 million.

"These people have the ability to set up within days," Nielsen said. "If
they rent a home on the first of the month, by the sixth or seventh day
they can have a full operation going."

The Panjhazaris didn't think there was anything unusual when they rented
the house through a real-estate agent.

"They were supposed to be a couple with two young children," Panjhazari
said. "We found them through a legitimate real-estate agent and their
references checked out."

When the year-long lease expired, the tenants opted to rent on a
month-to-month basis.

"The March cheque bounced," said Panjhazari, adding that when he contacted
the real-estate agent, she told them there was nothing she could do.

"We think they were using an alias," Panjhazari said. "We don't even know
if there was ever a real family living there."

Although the Panjhazaris said police are investigating the real-estate
agent, police only confirmed they're generally taking a closer look at
real-estate agents dealing with houses that are rented and turned into
illegal drug laboratories.

Panjhazari found the front door unlocked and the tenants gone when he went
to discuss the bounced cheque.

Like many residential pot labs, the tenants had bypassed the hydro meter so
Enersource couldn't detect the enormous amount of power being used to feed
the hydroponics equipment round the clock.

On April 5, Enersource notified the Panjhazaris that the hydro meter had
been repaired, but in order to restore power to the house they needed
$25,989.39 to cover 376 days of electricity and repairs. Hydro officials
concluded that at least 42 1000-watt high-intensity lights, three blowers
and 10 fans were used in the house.