MOUNTIES LOSE THEIR MARIJUANA, ONCE MORE

Central Okanagan Mounties Got Their Man But They Lost Their Drugs - Again.

An overnight theft of marijuana from the Lake Country RCMP office occurred
almost exactly two years after a similar drug heist from the Kelowna RCMP
detachment on Doyle Avenue.

Early Thursday morning, "a daring culprit" apparently climbed through an
unlocked ground-level window near the main entrance to the Lake Country
office, said RCMP spokesman Const. Garth Letcher.

"The marijuana was taken from a secure exhibit storage area inside the
office. No more than 100 grams of marijuana exhibits were involved," he said.

Police are conducting an audit but believe there were less than 10 exhibits
affecting as many as three cases. Those cases could date back as far as June.

RCMP destroy large seizures immediately, but keep a number of samples in a
temporary storage locker for analysis and evidence in criminal charges.

It is not known at this time if the theft will affect any criminal
proceedings under way.

"It's certainly embarrassing," admitted Letcher.

Although Letcher wouldn't discuss security issues in detail, he said
appropriate measures have been taken to ensure no further security breaches.

The office is currently located in a modular building at 3240 Grant Cres.
in Winfield behind the post office.

RCMP are planning to move into new quarters early next year after the
former credit union building on Berry Road is renovated.

On Aug. 9, 1999, brazen thieves broke into a Kelowna police compound on
Doyle Avenue and stole a quarter-million dollars worth of marijuana.

The 250 pot plants had been confiscated on the morning of Aug. 9 during a
police raid on a Westside home.

As with all marijuana seizures at that time, it was stored outside the
police detachment in a small compound protected by two chain link fences.
One fence had razor wire at the top, but the other did not.

It appears the thieves simply jumped into the compound from the roof of the
adjacent Kelowna Community Theatre, or from the police station itself. Then
they hoisted out five garbage bags filled with the crushed-up plants.

None of the officers on shift in the station that night noticed anything
unusual. There are security cameras trained on the back of the police
station, but their field of vision didn't include the drug compound. It
wasn't protected by motion sensors or alarms.

The theft was discovered the next morning by officers who arrived at the
compound, intending to take the marijuana away for destruction.

Unlike Thursday's theft, it was never publicized by red-faced Mounties. The
Daily Courier broke the story two weeks later.

Some of the stolen pot was re-sold on city streets. The thieves were hailed
as folklore heroes by those involved in Kelowna's drug trade.

The compound had been used to store marijuana overnight for years without
any problems. Police now store marijuana at a different location.