RCMP UNCOVER $5M IN POT GROW-OPS

Police Suspect Organized Crime

Police have uncovered an unprecedented $5-million network of pot
grow-ops in Grand Forks that they say are likely linked to organized
crime.

RCMP were tipped off last summer and determined a pattern in the
purchase of eight homes in the $170,000 to $225,000 range.

All had been bought in the spring or summer and are of the same basic
architectural style. They all had well-kept grounds but little other
indication that anyone lived in them, and the windows were covered.

Police executed search warrants at the eight homes last week and
discovered they were being used exclusively as grow operations. They
seized 5,000 plants and grow equipment with a combined value of about
$5 million.

Five people, all from Vancouver, were arrested and police are trying
to determine if they are linked to organized crime. Three of the five
are charged with production of a controlled substance, possession of
marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and theft of electricity.
The other two people arrested were not charged. The owners of the
eight homes are not charged, but police said more arrests and charges
are expected.

Cpl. Kevin Keane said most of the homes were heavily mortgaged.

He said officers also found real-estate listings for Grand Forks and
other small towns in the south Okanagan and Central Kootenay.

"The natural assumption is they are going to set up in other
communities," Keane said, adding that he has advised police in those
towns of the Grand Forks busts.

In October, police in Seymour Arm on Shuswap Lake seized 20,000 plants
and arrested 16 people, nearly one-fifth of the town's population.

Keane believes aggressive enforcement in major urban centres, and
relatively cheap properties in small towns, is attracting marijuana
grow operations to towns like Grand Forks, population 5,000.

"I don't want to be alarmist, but I certainly want people in small
communities to know they are not immune to organized crime," he said.

Insp. Paul Nadeau, in charge of the RCMP's co-ordinated marijuana
enforcement team, said small towns may be targeted for grow-ops
because residents are not as aware of the telltale signs as city folk.
And he said growers may not be as worried about getting ripped off by
other gangs as they would be in Vancouver.