NEIGHBOURS CREDITED FOR GROW OP BUSTS

Attentive neighbours are being credited with alerting police to two
marijuana grow operations worth $2 million.

It's believed the homes were being raided in what police describe as
"grow rips" when area residents called 911 to report break-ins, said
Insp. Rene Bailly.

Grow rips are becoming more common, with rival gangs attempting to
steal other groups' marijuana.

One of the homes stormed by police Saturday night had its front door
left open after the thieves fled without the crop.

Neighbours in the 100 block of Martindale Boulevard N.E. called police
after noticing something was out of the ordinary.

Police found a three-stage marijuana grow op with 1,213 plants. Police
said the drugs could have been sold on the street for around $1.5 million.

No one was in the home.

Several hours later, officers were dispatched to a house in the 100
block of Chapala Drive S.E.

Neighbours had called for help, believing the upscale home had been
broken into.

Roughly 625 marijuana plants were found. Police said the crop had the
potential to fetch $500,000. No one was in the house at the time.

Police in Calgary have seized more than $72 million in marijuana from
nearly 200 houses across the city this year.

In an effort to weed out the masterminds of Calgary's illegal
narcotics industry, police are distributing thousands of pamphlets to
residents on how to spot drug factories in their communities.

The literature, including material on methamphetamine and marijuana
grow ops, will be distributed before the end of the year in monthly
Enmax bills.

Meanwhile, Mounties in Three Hills arrested a 28-year-old Calgary man
for allegedly trafficking marijuana.

Police say they found $3,000 in pre-packaged marijuana in the man's
possession last Monday.

Christopher Lee Monasterski is charged with trafficking and possession
for the purpose of trafficking.