POT BUST LIKENED TO CANADIAN 'GROW-OPS'

CONCORD (AP) - A massive marijuana-growing enterprise involving about
a dozen houses and thousands of plants worth tens of millions of
dollars wasn't just the state's largest.

State and federal law enforcement authorities say the bust also
represents the movement south of a Canadian trend of sophisticated
indoor growing operations working out of middle-to-affluent
residential neighborhoods. "This is a trend we had been seeing in
Canada for as long as I have been a U.S. attorney," Tom Colantuono,
New Hampshire's federal prosecutor since 2001, said Thursday. "We were
very concerned that this might move south across the border and the
fact that it has is very disturbing."

In Canada, the prevalence of grow houses has prompted some police
agencies to create task forces solely dedicated to fighting indoor
marijuana "grow-ops." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police dedicates
sections of its Web site - www.rcmp.ca - with tip sheets for landlords
on how to avoid grow op tenants and how to spot a grow house. Some
signs: Covered windows, localized power surges and brown outs, the
smell of marijuana and the sounds of electrical humming, fans and
trickling water.

It is too early to know how far the New Hampshire operation spread and
whether it had any international ties, but authorities are confident
at least 13 houses discovered in the last two months are connected in
some way. The trail began in October when firefighters responding to
an electrical fire in a Hooksett house discovered 700 marijuana plants
in a basement tricked out as a hydroponic greenhouse.

The major bust came Wednesday, when 200 people from local, state and
federal agencies raided 11 houses in Concord, Derry, Pembroke,
Andover, Chester, Weare, Hopkinton, Londonderry, and Canterbury.