POT GROW HOUSE RAIDS NET 135 ARRESTS, $41M OF PLANTS SEIZED

MIAMI (AP) - Coordinated raids on suspected marijuana grow houses
across Florida netted at least 135 arrests and seizure of
high-potency pot plants worth an estimated $41 million on the street,
law enforcement officials said Thursday.

The raids took place Wednesday in 48 counties, from the Florida Keys
to the Panhandle, and identified about 150 homes with indoor growing
operations. U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of Miami estimated the
potential street value of the more than 9,000 confiscated plants.

"This could be anyplace. This could be in your neighborhood," Acosta said.

Marijuana grow houses are mushrooming across the state and spreading
elsewhere in the Southeast because organized crime groups see
tremendous profit potential, said Timothy Wagner, director of the
federal South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force
that coordinated the raids.

Some of these groups, including Miami-based Cuban-American
organizations, control upward of 200 grow houses and have a corrupt
support network that includes real estate agents, garden suppliers,
property appraisers, electricians and mortgage brokers, Wagner said.

He said some organizations recruit people in Cuba specifically to
come to the U.S. to act as caretakers.

"This problem is growing exponentially," Wagner said.

The marijuana produced indoors is up to 10 times as potent as the
weed available in the 1970s and 1980s, said Robert Parker, director
of the Miami-Dade County Police Department. It can cost more than
$4,000 a pound and hard-to-detect indoor operations can produce four
harvests a year.

The Miami raids included seizure of a bulletproof vest and eight
weapons, evidence of what Parker said is a wave of violence
surrounding the grow houses including home invasions, kidnappings and
even murder.

"If they can kill a person and get away with the drugs and the money,
they will do it," Parker said.

The potential for harm to innocent people, especially children, is
heightened because grow houses have been found in neighborhoods at
all economic levels -- sometimes with kids and even babies living
alongside the pot plants with their chemicals, hazardous electricity
and other dangers.

"It's a grave concern to our community," Parker said.

A county-by-county breakdown from the raids wasn't immediately
available for the entire state. But for the three populous South
Florida counties, Miami-Dade had 50 grow houses, 49 arrests and more
than 2,200 plants; Broward had nine houses, 10 arrests and more than
300 plants; and Palm Beach had 18 houses, 15 arrests and almost 1,000 plants.

Most of those arrested will face state drug charges, including
marijuana trafficking that carries a mandatory prison sentence of at
least three years.

Also Thursday, the Florida Legislature sent Gov. Charlie Crist a bill
enacting tough penalties on people convicted of owning marijuana grow houses.

An owner could get up to five years in prison and could get 15 years
if the house had 25 or more plants; previously, the longer sentence
applied to those with 300 or more. If a child was living at the home,
the owner could get 30 years.