POT GROWERS LOSE HOMES WORTH A TOTAL OF $971,000

RCMP Welcome 'Significant Deterrent Factor' Of House Seizures

SURREY - Two women who pleaded guilty to running marijuana growing
operations in their basements have had their homes -- with a combined
value of $971,000 -- handed over to the Crown.

Lanh Thi Lam, 21, and Thi Che Nguyen, 45, pleaded guilty in separate
trials at Surrey provincial court to running the operations.

Lam pleaded guilty June 8 after she was charged when Surrey RCMP
raided her home in April 2003 and found 300 marijuana plants in the
basement. The home has an assessed value of $517,000.

Nguyen was charged after police raided her $454,000 home in March
2004 and found 1,100 marijuana plants in the basement. She pleaded
guilty July 8.

Surrey RCMP Const. Marc Searle said seizure of the homes will act as
a deterrent to other grow operators by increasing the financial risk
of getting caught.

"When you look at the proportionality, when did you hear of a fine of
$400,000? Here you have the person getting the sentence, but, by the
way, we're also taking your house away. That's significant. There is
a deterrent factor to that."

He said the Surrey RCMP's drug section has 12 other cases in court
where Crown prosecutors are asking for forfeiture of houses in which
growing operations have been found. In the past three years, six
properties, including Lam's and Nugyen's, worth a total of about $2
million, have been forfeited to the Crown.

According to land title documents, the house jointly owned by Lam (a
"fingernail technician") and her husband (a fisherman) was bought in
2002 for about $416,000 with a $331,000 mortgage.

Searle said taking property from grow operators will hit them
financially. "What this does is ensures that the equity that we used
to get the house isn't retained by the offender so they can create
another grow somewhere else," he said.

In addition to having their homes seized, Lam received a nine-month
conditional sentence, which includes following a strict curfew and
being subject to electronic monitoring, while Nguyen received a
one-year conditional sentence.