Pot Grow-Ops Spring Up in Rural Alberta

Crackdown in Cities Sparks Trend

Marijuana grow operations are flourishing in Alberta's rural
communities as big-city cops crack down on organized crime groups,
government officials and Mounties said Thursday.

And just hours after four RCMP officers were gunned down while at a
grow op in the small community of Mayerthorpe, authorities pledged to
consider tougher penalties for those who cultivate weed.

"The issue of grow ops is not a ma-and-pa industry, as we've been
saying for a number of years. They are major, serious threats to our
society, and they are major, serious threats to the men and women on
the front line who have to deal with them," said Public Safety
Minister Anne McLellan.

"They are booby-trapped, they are high-risk issues, and major,
organized crime in many cases is involved. This is really a plague in
our society."

Last year, the Southern Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team seized
nearly 81,000 plants-- worth an estimated $100 million.

That's a significant increase from 2003, when police took $53 million
off the streets. In 2001 and 2002, police seized $9 million and $19
million, respectively.

Rural police have recently stepped up enforcement in several small
communities east of Calgary, after noticing big-city crime such as
grow ops creep into the area.

"Privacy is a big issue. (They) don't want people to know what they're
doing, and many of them are tied to organized crime," said Staff Sgt.
Glenn De Goeij of the Strathmore RCMP.

"As today clearly shows us, it's not a big-city problem. It's a
problem from one side of the country to the other," he said Thursday.

"Are we seeing an increase? You bet we are."

Premier Ralph Klein said he was "surprised" such a thing could happen
in the quiet farming community, roughly 130 kilometres northwest of
Edmonton.

But Thursday's tragedy suggests "the criminal mind is changing . . .to
move from big cities so perhaps they won't be noticed as much as they
would in a larger centre," Klein said.

Local drug experts agreed organized crime has filtered out into
smaller areas over the past few years.

Just this week, the Hells Angels were identified by RCMP in Strathmore
as buying a two-acre plot near Calgary's city limits.

The group has long been fingered by law enforcement as one of two
groups heavily involved in growing marijuana in Alberta.

In 2004, the Criminal Intelligence Service Alberta -- the province's
top organized crime investigators -- pointed to Asian organized crime
groups as the largest cultivator.

Just east of Calgary, in the Town of Chestermere, marijuana grow ops
have become public enemy No. 1.

Two years ago, the town's mayor declared war on weed farms after a
one-day police bust netted $5 million from seven homes on the same
cul-de-sac.

With evidence that organized crime groups are setting up shop in rural
Alberta, police said they will follow the problem wherever it may try
to hide.

"Just the sheer facts, numbers wise, there's going to be more (grow
ops) in the city, but we won't neglect the rural areas," said Staff
Sgt. Birnie Smith of the Calgary RCMP drug section. "We know they're
out there."

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GROW-OPS

Calgary:

Biggest Busts: Feb. 9, Calgary police seized more than $4-million worth of
marijuana from three separate locations. That included 2,319 marijuana
plants worth $2.9 million from a single address in Arbour Lake -- the single
largest grow-operation in the city's history.

Busts in 2005: Already this year Calgary police have seized nearly
12,000 plants worth an estimated $13.5 million as well as about
$500,000 in growing equipment.

Busts in 2004: Last year, about 81,000 plants worth an estimated $100
million was seized in the city, nearly double the value of marijuana
seized in 2003. In 2002, the number was $19 million and in 2001 $9
million was seized.

National average: Canadian law enforcement seize an average of 1.1
million marijuana plants each year.

Telltale signs: Residential grow-ops include windows that are blacked
out or are continuously covered with blinds, residences that appear
unoccupied with periodic visitors, a skunky smell coming from the
building, evidence of condensation, fans running all the time and
humming sounds.