POT OPERATION BOOBY-TRAPPED

'Just Another Wire' Rigged To Zap Anyone Cutting It

Drug police busting one of the year's biggest marijuana grow ops, worth an
estimated $1.4 million, sidestepped a potentially dangerous booby trap.

A live wire hooked up to a separate power source could have sent a jolt of
electricity through anyone trying to cut it.

"Unless you know what you're looking for, it's just another wire," said
Det. Chris Fileccia.

Such operations are often fortified or booby-trapped to foil police and
thieves.

Officers from the Southern Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team, District 2
city police and the Calgary tactical team swooped in Tuesday morning on the
home at 71 West Cedars Rise S.W.

Tradesmen building new homes across the street in the West Springs
cul-de-sac gaped as half a dozen police cruisers rolled in and officers
covered by white protective suits removed bag after bag of confiscated pot
plants and growing equipment.

Police seized 1,100 pot plants.

The crop was growing on all levels of the 2,000-square-foot house. They
said the growers went to extremes in setting up the elaborate effort, which
was "very professionally done."

To hide the drifting odour of pungent marijuana from neighbours, the
operators sprinkled mothballs throughout the house, tacked up scented
anti-static dryer sheets over vents and uprooted a toilet to vent straight
into the sewer, police said.

Police are calling the bust significant. It brings the total street value
of illegal crops seized so far this year to $38 million.

Because the cannabis crop was so bountiful, Fileccia said police have
reason to believe it's connected to an organized crime group.

"That's not for personal use," the detective said.

"It's a huge amount of pot."

Suburban grow ops are booming in Calgary's suburbs, police say.

The yellow, stucco-and-brick home in the new neighbourhood has a tidy lawn
with a row of bright flowers budding.

Hot pink curtains with white polka dots cover the windows upstairs and on
the main floor.

Police said a Crime Stoppers tip led them to the home.

Unlike other humid pot-growing operations with sweaty windows and absentee
residents, there were no telltale signs.

"It wasn't obvious. You wouldn't suspect there was a grow in here," said
Fileccia.

Police said the operators were stealing power to grow the potted plants by
bypassing the electrical meter. Unlike other houses police have stormed to
seize drugs, the West Springs home was furnished inside and people had been
seen coming and going.

The house has been deemed unsafe to live in due to moist conditions that
encourage toxic mould to grow on walls and ceilings.

No one was home at the time of the bust.

The investigation is continuing.