$11-MILLION GROW-OP BUST HAMILTON'S LARGEST EVER

TORONTO - Hamilton police have seized $11-million worth of marijuana
in the largest grow operation bust in the city's history.

Police set out to search six apartments Wednesday, but their
investigation quickly expanded to four dozen apartments in three
neighbouring high-rise apartment buildings, Inspector Rick Wells said
yesterday. More than 11,000 soil-based plants were found, with each
apartment housing about 200 plants. "They were strategically placed at
the end of halls and places that wouldn't get a lot of pedestrian
traffic. It wasn't as though they were all concentrated on one floor."
The vacant apartments were scattered among those occupied by families,
he said. In each apartment, the stove's electrical outlet was used as
a power source. The apartment buildings are owned by Dicenzo
Construction and were each leased, Insp. Wells said. No arrests have
been made. The owners of the buildings were very cooperative, he said.
"Through investigation we were able to identify similarities with a
bunch of other apartments in these three buildings and as a result of
that we did searches on the rest of them and were able to find 48."
Insp. Wells has been a drug investigator since 1981 and said this is
the largest marijuana grow-op seizure Hamilton police have ever made.
City officials, including public health, are now investigating the
buildings to examine any health risk to tenants, he said.