DRUG HOUSES SEIZED BY POLICE

ABBOTSFORD - Two homes used to house large marijuana growing
operations were the first in the community to be seized under the
province's Civil Forfeiture Act, Abbotsford Chief Const. Ian
Mackenzie said Thursday.

The department's drug squad found almost 4,000 pot plants at rural
homes on Simpson Road and on Willet Road recently.

The houses were sold, mortgages paid off and $230,000 paid to the
B.C. government under the act.

"We recognized early on that this new law would be a great tool for
police to hit back at organized crime," said Mackenzie in a news release.

"We were one of the first police departments in the province to refer
files to the civil forfeiture office and we will continue to do so
because it is an innovative option for police that is obviously working well."

Eligible cases are referred to the civil forfeiture office, which
then pursues forfeitures, explained deputy chief Rick Lucy on Thursday.

"We've had a few files referred. These are the first couple we've had
in Abbotsford," said Lucy, who expects more forfeitures to be
announced in the future.