INDUSTRIAL-SCALE GROW OP BUSTED IN B.C.; 49 ARRESTED

Police Find Pot Farms In Two Toronto Highrises

MISSION, B.C. - RCMP interrupted an industrial-sized marijuana harvest in a
raid on a Fraser Valley farm.

Inside a two-storey barn they found 48 workers on Friday in the middle of
cutting down more than 3,000 marijuana plants. One person in the house also
was arrested.

The high-tech hydro bypass ran 12 industrial-sized air conditioners and
hundreds of thousand-watt grow lights.

Cpl. Murray Power said interrupting the harvest was a stroke of luck.

"I've come across a harvest probably twice in my service," he said. "To
find 49 people is phenomenal."

Police said the stolen electricity for the lights alone could have powered
70 average homes.

Power said most of those arrested didn't know where they were. The workers
- -- all from the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley -- were brought to the
marijuana factory in the back of a cube van and returned after their shift.

"This year is a booming year in this industry and it's very frustrating,"
Power said. "We're not gaining any ground whatsoever. The tips just roll in
by the day. We just can't even come close to keeping up with them."

Meanwhile in Toronto, police have uncovered an elaborate hydroponic
marijuana-growing operation, believed to be linked to organized crime, that
was housed in eight apartments in two high-rise residential buildings in
the city's west end. Police said 850 plants were seized with a street value
of about $400,000.

The apartments used to grow the plants were connected and police said they
posed great danger to tenants in the building. The dwellings were covered
with mould and, police said, sealed doors, windows and mail slots in
combination with exposed live wires were a fire hazard.

"These buildings have kids on every single floor," Det. Howie Page said.
"At this stage, we've got eight apartments. I honestly can't say we have
them all."

The growers used four apartments in two 19-storey highrise buildings. The
size of the plants in some apartments was an indication the operation had
been running for several months, police said, and in others it looked as
though it had just started.

Growers did a fair amount of construction to convert the units into working
grow operations police said, causing at least $150,000 in damage. Holes
were drilled through concrete floors so units could share electrical and
exhaust systems. Walls were constructed to divide each two-bedroom unit
into "growing, harvesting and final product rooms," and a "farmer's field
worth of soil" was also brought up to the units, Page said. Tenants,
building security and management didn't detect any of this activity, police
said.

About $50,000 worth of equipment and the complexity of the operation led
police to believe it was being run by an organized criminal organization.