MOUNTIES DISCOVER LARGE METH LABORATORY

Acting on a tip, police were looking for a large marijuana home-grow
operation as well as a small methamphetamine lab, but instead Langley
Mounties discovered the opposite.

Cpl. Dale Carr said officers armed with a warrant found a
"significant" meth lab in the basement of a ramshackle house on 200th
Street near 56 Avenue on Friday, along with a small pot grow-op and
arrested three men, who are awaiting charges.

"Two weeks ago, we got a tip from the public that there was possibly a
grow-operation in this house," Carr said yesterday.

The clandestine drug-lab team was called in and the trio arrested. A
large amount of the volatile chemical components of meth was seized.

Carr estimated that the lab was capable of producing "kilos" of meth,
which sells on the street for $40 a half-gram, with the drug destined
for Langley, Surrey and Abbotsford.

"It is a growing problem," Carr said. "And it's fueling the auto-theft
problem, it's fueling the [break-and-enter] problem and it's probably
the catalyst in a lot of our current-day problems."

Carr said two of the men arrested were known to police, including one
man who was sentenced to 32 months for producing meth in 2001.

"Old habits die hard," Carr said.

Charges are expected to be laid this week. Carr said the house will
likely be demolished.

Crystal meth can produce effects similar to cocaine, but it is much
cheaper and produces a high that can last up to 12 hours compared to
coke, which only lasts for a short time.