PERSPECTIVE: THE BIG BUST

B.C. Hayseed Turns Out To Be Drug Kingpin

It began with a series of suspicious property purchases and ended in
the biggest drug bust in Manitoba's history.

In between were moments of unintentional hilarity, suspicious
neighbours, a confidential informant and an undercover RCMP
investigation that could make a great new TV spin-off called CSI On
The Prairies.

Justice reporter Mike McIntyre obtained copies of police affidavits
used to obtain search warrants that culminated in a series of raids
in the fall of 2005. Police seized 28 migrant workers -- recruited in
Toronto to help with the "fall harvest" in Manitoba -- and more than
$19 million worth of marijuana.

Here is the inside story.

KYHON "Simon" Wong appeared to be a little too eager to gobble up
property in southern Manitoba.

It was the fall of 2004, and Wong's real estate inquiries -- he had
already purchased acreage in Stuartburn and Piney, and was shopping
in Armstrong -- had caught the eye of the RCMP Integrated Border
Enforcement Team.

Police decided to take a closer look at why the Chinese immigrant was
looking to plant so many roots in Manitoba.

Police learned Wong was a bit of an international man of mystery,
with various connections to Hong Kong, British Columbia, Ontario and
Quebec. The 43-year-old appeared to be trying to disguise his
purchases under other names of friends and associates, and police
began to wonder what he might be up to.

Wong's criminal history was brief but noteworthy -- a conviction for
forgery and fraud.

He carried a Manitoba driver's licence and had addresses listed in
Burnaby, B.C. and Piney.

He was a bad driver and appeared to be an even worse liar.

Wong was stopped for speeding on Feb. 11, 2005 on the Trans-Canada
Highway by Steinbach RCMP. He was driving a red Chevy truck with
Manitoba plates.

Wong told the officer who stopped him, Const. Dalia Schroeder, that
he'd been living in the Piney area for about a year.

He claimed to be farming 50 head of cattle. "She did not believe this
story of making a living raising 50 head of cattle as the border was
still closed to Canadian beef and, as such, cattle prices were low,"
RCMP Const. Jay Schooley wrote in an affidavit.

Schroeder allowed Wong to carry on after writing him a ticket but
entered the strange encounter into an internal police computer system.

It wasn't long before another Mountie recalled a similar meeting with
the same shady character from way back in January 2004.

Cpl. Tom Bree was posted in the Lac du Bonnet detachment when he came
across a Jeep Grand Cherokee stuck in a snowbank.

The driver -- who produced a B.C. licence under the name of Simon
Wong -- had somehow put himself on a snowmobile trail.

Bree asked Wong what exactly he was doing.

"He stated he was in the area to look for rural properties to
purchase so he could use those properties to take his family from
Hong Kong hunting," Schooley wrote.

Bree's "B.S." meter began to ring -- but he had no reason to hold
Wong once he helped him get out of the snow.

Something just didn't look right.

A Manitoba resident -- identified in court documents as "Source A" --
came forward to police in early 2005 with a story about some strange
sights in Inwood, Manitoba.

It would prove to be a major break for police.

The somewhat nosy neighbour reported seeing a man he would later
identify as Wong, along with two other Asian men, coming and going
from a property just north of Hwy. 17 in the province's Interlake.

Although the newcomers claimed they were farmers, Source A wasn't
buying it. "He indicated Wong does not appear to have a great deal of
knowledge about farming or the equipment required," Schooley wrote in
his affidavit.

There were other grounds for suspicion. None of the men appeared to
be living on the property, and a truck would come and go almost every evening.

Police shared the good citizen's concerns and suspect there was
farming going on -- just nothing of the legal variety.

Police asked Source A -- whose only brush with the law was a drunk
driving charge -- why he was coming forward to ensure there were no
ulterior motives.

His answer? "A sense of community duty."

It appeared Wong wasn't just partial to the Manitoba prairie --
police believed he was doing business in Saskatchewan as well.

The Broadview, Sask, RCMP detachment executed a narcotics search
warrant on Aug. 11, 2005 just south of Whitewood, about an hour west
of the Manitoba border.

They uncovered 3,000 marijuana plants in various stages of growth --
and some revealing information about the alleged brains behind the
operation. Police found a telephone bill in the name of Adonica Ma,
who was one of two suspects arrested and charged. Of particular
interest to police were two calls made by Ma to a Manitoba-based
cellular phone.

Police tracked the number to Wong.

Police also found a receipt for the purchase of a haybine from a
business in Emerald Park, Sask. The $4,200 sale was made on July 25,
2005 -- to Wong.

The company owner recalled speaking personally with Wong, who claimed
he was helping get his friend "set up for farming."

Police seized another receipt for the purchase of two water pumps, a
suction house and coupler from a Regina company. The buyer was Beacon
Hill Ltd. a Winnipeg-based company police later linked to Wong.

Police executed a related search warrant at the home of one of the
drug suspects in Wapella, Sask. An address book and cell phone were
located, with Wong's name appearing on both.

Police made one final discovery of interest. A large roll of clear
plastic poly was stashed inside the Whitewood-area farm. Police say
the material is commonly used to cover the kind of homemade
greenhouses they found at the site.

Someone had written the name of "Simon Wong" in black marker on the poly.

It was time to take a closer look.

By late summer, Manitoba RCMP had traced three specific rural
Manitoba locations to the mysterious Mr. Wong: The farm in Inwood,
another in Sundown and a home in Piney.

Cpl. Robert Ross, a veteran member of the RCMP drug section, knew
there was only one way to get a clear picture of what was happening
on the heavily treed properties.

He'd have to grow wings.

Ross obtained the global position system co-ordinates of the Inwood
locale along with a topographic map and compass.

On the bright, clear morning of Aug. 26, 2005, Ross and a fellow
Mountie, Const. Tom Wallach, took to the skies.

Their best weapon that day was a pair 15x "power image stabilized"
binoculars which allowed a revealing peek at what was happening on
the property.

It didn't take long for Ross to spot the pot.

A mobile home was surrounded by 10 long, greenhouse type structures.
They appeared to have been constructed with 2 by 4's covered over
with clear plastic. Each was approximately 200-feet long. Ross also
zoomed in on five distinctive plots of large green plants.

He knew marijuana when he saw it, having had the chance to view more
than 34,000 pot plants from the sky during his career. Ross and
Wallach snapped some digital photographs and took video before
leaving the area.

As the summer began to wane, the police investigation was heating up.

On Aug. 31, RCMP had Wong under surveillance and watched him coming
and going from a huge warehouse located in an industrial park,
eventually heading north to Inwood.

The address on Park Lane Avenue was the same one Wong used for Beacon
Hill Ltd., the company he owned which had been linked to the earlier
drug bust in Saskatchewan.

Police made several other discoveries. Beacon Hill Ltd. had ordered
180 kilograms of bags, cone and sacks described as being suitable for
the "processing, storing and packing of animal semen, vaccines and
toxins." The goods had been imported from China to Vancouver.

Wong's company had also previously ordered nearly 50,000 kilograms of
metal shelving from another Chinese outlet.

Police finally entered the warehouse on Sept. 23 -- by having an
officer post as a prospective buyer and gaining access through a real
estate agent. The officer found all the remnants of a marijuana
storage facility and took several photos during the tour.

There were fans used for drying pot, motors for a pulley system;
massive tarps and two transformers to provide power for an extensive
lighting system.

And there was mould, tons of it, along with peeling paint and a damp
odor which left no doubt as to what had been going on.

Armed with several court-ordered warrants, officers managed to sneak
on to the Sundown and Inwood properties to confirm what they'd seen
from the sky.

Officers managed to avoid detection as they tiptoed their way on to
the Sundown property on Sept. 14, but avoided going directly into the
greenhouses because recent rain had turned the ground muddy and they
were concerned about leaving footprints behind.

Police pulled a similar stunt in Inwood one week later and were able
to enter three separate greenhouses and take close-up photos of
marijuana plants in various stages of growth.

Police secretly returned to each location one more time, including a
close call in Inwood when officers got close enough to the action to
hear several voices coming from a greenhouse.

Police also left a few gifts behind -- including tracking devices on
vehicles and video cameras hidden in the bushes to allow 24/7
monitoring of the property. The investigation was over.

Within days, police arrested 28 impoverished Chinese immigrants at
the 'farm' in Sundown. Less than two weeks later, they shut down the
Inwood operation.

With the busts in the bag, police returned their focus back to where
it first began -- on Simon Wong.

Police learned he checked into a room at the Super 8 Motel on Pembina
Highway, room number 421, on Sept. 29. Officers began watching his
every move -- trips to Home Depot, restaurants, even his smoke
breaks. On Oct. 3, police watched Wong rent a U-Haul truck and move
several boxes into it from a mini-van in the parking lot of the motel.

Police followed the U-Haul all the way to the Sundown property, where
it appeared to make a pickup. The vehicle then pulled out at nearly 5
a.m. and headed east on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Police eventually pulled it over just after 6:30 a.m. in Falcon Lake
and found nearly 600 pounds of pot inside. The two occupants -- both
close associates of Wong -- were arrested.

Unfortunately for the RCMP, they may have waited too long -- or
gotten too greedy -- to pull the trigger on Wong in an attempt to
gather as much information as possible. Wong was simply allowed to
board an airplane headed for Vancouver on Oct. 8.

Police know he arrived -- a surveillance team briefly picked up his
trail in B.C. that night.

He hasn't been seen since.

*SIDEBAR*

The price of doing business

SIMON WONG is alleged to have spent approximately half a million
dollars setting up business in Manitoba.

But with a potential fortune looming from street-level drug sales,
police say it's a small price for doing business.

Here's how Wong's various properties add up, according to sworn RCMP
affidavits obtained by the Free Press.

SUNDOWN GROW OP SITE

(N&S 14-2-9E, RM OF STUARTBURN)

Site of the largest grow operation in Manitoba history.

Wong purchased the farm property on April 20, 2004 under a different
name, Ying Yi Cao. The purchase price was $120,000.

Police arrested 28 impoverished Chinese immigrants on Oct. 7, 2005
and seized enough pot to yield an estimated $19 million in street level sales.

INWOOD GROW OP SITE

(E 21-19-1E, RM OF ARMSTRONG)

Site of another massive grow operation unearthed on Oct. 18, 2005.

Wong purchased the farm property on April 6, 2005 under a different
name, Tsung Tien Yan. The purchase price was $82,000.

Police seized 360 kilograms of cultivated marijuana during an early
morning raid.

PINEY PROPERTY

(NE 7-1-15-E, PINEY, MBA)

Wong purchased the land on April 24, 2004 and listed it under the
name of his wife, Xiyun Liu. The purchase price was $15,000.

No grow operation was found on the property. Wong listed this address
as his Manitoba home.

THE WAREHOUSE --

154 PARK LANE AVE., WINNIPEG

Wong purchased the 8,750-square-foot warehouse on April 20, 2004
under the registered company name of Beacon Hill Canada Enterprises
Limited. Purchase price was $275,000.

Police searched the location and found evidence the site was being
used to stash drugs for shipment to the United States in U-Haul vehicles.