MORE THAN HALF INTERIOR TOWN IN POT BUSINESS, POLICE SAY

Huge raid by organized crime unit on tiny Seymour Arm nets up to 5,000
marijuana plants

Organized crime investigators swooped down on the small community of
Seymour Arm at the north end of Shuswap Lake Tuesday in a raid on
several large-scale marijuana-growing operations that police say
involved more than half the town's residents.

Beginning at 7 a.m., about 100 officers executed warrants on 14
properties and 14 vehicles, all within a four-kilometre radius, and
arrested 16 adult males.

Police will begin today to dismantle cultivation facilities containing
up to 5,000 plants.

The two-year police investigation grew out of complaints from
residents unhappy with the number of growing operations in the area
and complaining of violence, threats and intimidation.

"There's been some violence," Sgt. John Ward said Tuesday. "We've
seized a number of firearms. I can't tell you if they're all handguns
or rifles, but quite a few weapons have been seized."

He estimated more than half the approximately 80 people living in the
Seymour Arm community were involved in growing marijuana. But he said
many residents in the divided vacation community were relieved at the
raid.

"Obviously there were some citizens here that were not involved and
were obviously not in favour of this going on," Ward said. "We had a
number of our officers approached by citizens, thanking us for finally
being able to take some action."

One of the residents pleased by the raid was Bob Reimer, 60, who is
retired but has lived in the community for more than 20 years.

"They're cleaning up the town," he said in an interview on Tuesday
night. "We're getting our town back, which is good. We didn't think
anybody cared."

Lorne Bradley, outgoing vice-president of the area's community
association agreed, saying "most people are fairly pleased -- the
mainstream people" who were not involved in the grow operations.

Shane Roth, a Calgary resident who makes the quiet community his
summer home, was surprised when a police helicopter landed in his
front yard early Tuesday morning.

"It scared the dickens out of me," he said, standing by the town's
collection of mailboxes.

Throughout the day, armed police officers gathered at intersections
and in front of the town's lone store, which has been left vacant for
the winter.

Large green bins for storing the plants and growing equipment were
lined up along the town's dirt street.

Ward said the marijuana was being exported to the U.S.

"Definitely for export," he said. "We understand that a big part of it
was for export."

The 16 people arrested will be making their first court appearances in
Kamloops provincial court.

The search warrants were filed in Vancouver and have been
sealed.

Asked what kind of crime organization was involved, Ward said: "They
operate under the radar, they are very well organized and they are
making a substantial amount of money because there are factory-size
grows here that have been taken down and they have the ability to move
the product through to Vancouver, to Calgary and into the United States."

The investigation was started by the Organized Crime Agency of B.C.,
which now has been taken over by the Combined Forces Special
Enforcement Unit of B.C. RCMP from Chase, Kamloops and Salmon Arm were
involved in the probe.

In August 2000, the RCMP acquired high-resolution satellite images of
Seymour Arm and three other sites in the Interior -- Slocan Valley,
Upper Kettle and Christina Lake.

Police said at the time that it was difficult to identify marijuana
plants, which closely resemble other vegetation. The technology is
also used to spot cocaine production in South American countries such
as Bolivia and Colombia.

While Bradley said residents were happy about the bust, he was
concerned that the arrests will not necessarily rid his community of
the marijuana problem.

"What's the penalty for this?" he asked. "How are you going to solve
the problem when the courts don't back the police?"

Bradley said he was also concerned the publicity about the bust would
highlight his community as a "drug haven," a label he said it does not
deserve.

"There's a lot of very nice people here," he said. "We're the flavour
of the day right now [because of this raid], but I don't think we're
any different than a lot of other areas in this province right now."

It's a sentiment shared by fellow resident Reimer.

"It gives the community a bad name," he said.

But he said it's good if it can at least slow the marijuana operations
in the area, which he said have been going on for quite some time.

"Everybody here knew what was going on," he said, adding he had no
idea the investigation was underway.

"For the straight people, it's good," he added. "It's a relief."