GROW-OP - NOT LIKELY

WILLIAMS LAKE - The site of the largest marijuana grow-op ever subject
to civil forfeiture action - one that could have produced more than
22,000 plants in a year - has now been forfeited to the province,
Solicitor General John van Dongen announced today.

"Grow-ops and related, organized crime present serious risks to public
safety, and this latest, successful case shows the Province and RCMP
are serious about suppressing unlawful and harmful activity wherever
it occurs," said van Dongen. "No community wants grow-ops and their
various, associated dangers. We're working hard with police to take
away instruments of unlawful activity and, in turn, its
profitability."

In November 2006, Williams Lake RCMP discovered 5,566 marijuana plants
in a house and two adjacent structures on a Cedar Creek Road property
in Likely. Nearly every room was structurally modified, with
extensive, unapproved wiring installed to power 137 high-intensity
discharge lamps, creating serious safety issues for the occupants and
police.

The land and buildings involved were forfeited to the Province in a
recent B.C. Supreme Court decision and will be sold, with proceeds
paid to the province under the act.

"Civil forfeiture is an increasingly valuable tool that helps us ,"
said Const. Craig Douglass, RCMP North District. "The RCMP is
committed to working with the Province in innovative ways to combat
marijuana cultivation in all areas of B C."

Douglass noted that in a year the Likely grow-op could have produced
one marijuana cigarette for everyone in the province. In the two years
since the act came into force, the Province has prevailed in 30.
Amendments this spring make property used for unlawful activity that
is likely to cause serious bodily harm, like drunk driving, or likely
to generate profit, such as marijuana cultivation, subject to civil
forfeiture proceedings.