RURAL 'MARIJUANA FACTORY' SEIZED

A house and a hectare of land near Williams Lake where two Surrey men
ran a marijuana grow operation have been seized in what the B.C.
government calls the largest grow-op to be subject to its civil
forfeiture legislation.

"This was really a marijuana factory," said Solicitor General John van
Dongen of the property in Likely.

When it was raided by RCMP in November 2006, nearly every room - plus
an outbuilding - were set up with 137 growing lamps and 5,500 plants.
Police estimated that with four crops that size per year, the
operation could supply one joint for every person in B.C.

Van Dongen said after two men pleaded guilty in the case and were
sentenced to a year in jail, Crown counsel decided to turn the
property over to the province's civil forfeiture office rather than
seize it under federal proceeds of crime legislation. Recent
amendments to the two-year-old civil forfeiture law extended it to
property used unlawfully that could cause bodily harm, such as the car
of a drinking driver, or property that generates illegal profits such
as a grow op.

If the property was seized under the proceeds of crime legislation,
the bulk of the proceeds would have ended up in federal coffers.

The Likely property will be sold at market value with the proceeds
turned over to the B.C. government. So far there have been 30 cases
where judges have approved civil forfeiture, and $4 million in cash,
vehicles and other valuables have been turned over to the province to
compensate victims of crime, fund prevention programs, help prevent
and remedy the effects of illegal activity and cover the costs of
administering the act.