POT BUST TOTAL EXCEEDS $2M

April's Mark Double The Monthly Goal

Calgary's pot-busters who vowed to wipe out $1-million worth of marijuana
in the city every month have just topped the $2-million mark for April.

Members of the city police drug unit Green Team raided a home at 3026 26
Ave. S.E., where they hit a sophisticated marijuana grow.

"We seized starter plants, full-grown plants, plants that were cropped out
and some in bud," said Det. Gord Renke, head of the Green Team. "We hit
this grow just before he was going to take it all to market."

HANDGUNS SEIZED

Detectives put the street value of the seized marijuana at $150,000, which
lifted the team's seizures for April over the $2-million mark. Officers
also seized two handguns from the home, but no arrests were made.

It's thought the growing operation had probably produced some earlier crops
before being detected.

The drug unit is expanding the number of officers being trained for the
fight against the flourishing marijuana-growing industry in the city.

OFFICERS ADDED

"We are circulating officers through the Green Team, and ... there are
three new officers on the present team," said Renke.

In March, Renke set the new target for his men to wipe out $1-million of
marijuana a month.

In the first week, a joint city police and RCMP bust took $2-million worth
of drugs off city streets.

But police realize the size of the problem they face, knowing if they take
$12-million worth of marijuana off the streets a year, they still won't put
a dent in the city-wide production.

One police estimate is $20-million worth of marijuana is under lights in
city basements, but the figure could be higher.

At least 200 potential drug-growing homes have been reported to police, but
they don't know how many more have gone unreported.