THE POWER BEHIND THE POT

They looked like ordinary suburban homes.

In fact, police say, they were clandestine marijuana labs, each one
hiding an intricate system of ventilation ducts, high-wattage lighting
and enough stolen electricity to power a small high school.

Last month's blockbuster pot bust, believed to be the largest in New
Hampshire history, revealed a web of high-tech marijuana farms in
upscale neighborhoods across southern New Hampshire. Police cracked
the ring open last month, raiding 11 houses in a single day.

All told, police estimate, 13 houses from Derry to Andover were hiding
more than 10,000 marijuana plants, a cache worth $41 million to $52
million on the street.

Authorities, however, say they weren't just impressed with the size of
the criminal operation. As much as anything, they said, it was the
sophistication of the grows that caught their attention.

"The electrical systems is what makes this so unique," said Lt. Terry
Kinneen of the New Hampshire State Police.

Each home was concealing a sprawling, mostly automated pot farm -- "a
greenhouse without the greenhouse," as Kinneen put it. In several
cases, police said, the growers did not live in the houses but visited
on occasion to water and rotate the crops.

Their equipment was professional grade, and it wasn't cheap. Police
say the grows used 1,000-watt light bulbs, the same kind used to
illuminate the interstate.

Just four bulbs will light a quarter-mile stretch of highway, Kinneen
said. Many of the growers' basements, he said, had 50 to 60 of them.

Purchased legitimately, the bulbs may cost as much as $86
apiece.

"The heat and light generated by these things is phenomenal," Kinneen
said.

All those lights used up a lot of juice. According to police, each
home was stealing about $100 in electricity per day, roughly the same
amount the average homeowner uses in a month.

To bypass the electric meters, and escape the public utilities'
attention, the growers allegedly spliced the lines feeding power to
each house.

Public Service of New Hampshire, which supplied power to most of the
identified houses, is still trying to determine the amount of
electricity stolen.

"If there's any opportunity to recoup that lost revenue, we'll attempt
to do that," spokesman Martin Murray said.

The houses themselves seemed integral to the growers' strategy. In
each of the known cases, the growers chose to hide their labs in posh,
low-crime neighborhoods. Most of the houses were worth between
$300,000 and $500,000.

Two houses in Chester had Christmas decorations. Some of the houses
received newspaper deliveries. One had an American flag on the mailbox.

Inside, however, investigators found the main floors were virtually
empty. One house in Hooksett had just two mattresses on the floor. In
Epsom, police found a couple of mattresses and a shrine to Buddha.

The growers generally confined their labs to the basements, each a
steamy 85 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. High temperatures are ideal for
hydroponic marijuana plants, which are highly potent and typically
sell for much more than commercial-grade pot. Just one plant could be
worth $4,000 to $5,000, investigators said.

To hide their operation, the growers allegedly boarded up the basement
windows from the inside. Ventilation ducts not only pumped needed
carbon dioxide to the plants, but sucked up the acrid, aromatic air
that filled each basement. Much of the air escaped through the chimney
and dissipated in the wind, according to Kinneen.

"Pretty ingenious," he said.

Police photos of the operations show each light's ballast was attached
to its own timer. "Mature" marijuana plants were kept on a 12-hour
light cycle. "Immature" plants, growing between strips of
heat-trapping mylar film in an adjacent nursery, were on an 18-hour
cycle.

By and large, police said, all the growers had to do was periodically
shower the stalks with plant-nurturing chemicals and move plants out
of the nursery as they mature. Kinneen said the entire process took
just two to three months, at which point the growers could harvest and
ship the plants.

"These people know what they're doing," Kinneen said.

The growers were working fast, he said. This became clear two months
ago, when a blown transformer in Epsom led investigators to an
underground marijuana lab, one of the largest ever discovered in New
Hampshire.

Police found the house was purchased just 11 days before the utility
company discovered its electricity was being illegally diverted. By
that time, Kinneen said, the lab was already up and running.

To date, "Operation Green Thumb," as the investigation is known, has
yielded charges against 11 people. Criminal affidavits in those cases
remain sealed.

The investigation was launched in October, when a power surge sparked
a house fire in Hooksett. Upon arrival, firefighters found hundreds of
marijuana plants.

Three weeks later, the transformer blew in Epsom, leading police to a
stash of nearly 1,400 infant plants.

Neither Kinneen nor U.S. Attorney Tom Colantuono was willing to say
much about the methods used to locate the other 11 houses. Kinneen
noted that one house in Chester was discovered by accident when a
utility worker parked his car near the property. An occupant panicked
and sped away from the house, which piqued the worker's suspicion,
Kinneen said.

Suspecting more labs are still hidden, Colantuono is asking for the
public's help. Neighbors should be vigilant, he said, and may be right
to be suspicious of new residents who are rarely seen, who keep
strange hours or who don't tend their lawns.

Tips might also come from professionals who may be interacting with
the growers, such as real estate agents, mortgage brokers and people
who sell fertilizer, he said.

"If there are more of these out there," he said, "we would like to
find them."