HYDRO SLEUTHS CATCH POT GROWERS

B.C. Hydro Sleuths On The Prowl For Stolen Electricity Are Turning Up The
Heat On Marijuana-Grow Operators.

In the past week they have led cops to pot worth at least $5 million.

The latest Hydro-generated bust happened Monday at a warehouse in the
1800-block Triumph Street in Vancouver.

A crew investigating the diversion of electricity found the warehouse was
an electricity guzzler. It was consuming 82,000 kilowatt hours in 60 days,
equal to the consumption of 40 households in the same period.

For Hydro, that amounted to theft of $30,000 in electricity.

Hydro led police to the grow-op, which is being billed as one of the
largest in Vancouver history.

Const. Sarah Bloor said officers found an elaborate pot factory where room
after room had been converted into greenhouses.

The total yield was approximately 3,500 plants capable of producing pot
worth more than $2 million.

One wall was fitted with 160 electrical ballasts powering 160 lamps.

Earlier this week, Coquitlam RCMP raided six homes in Westwood Plateau and
busted grow-ops that were producing some 4,000 plants.

Hydro crews investigating the theft of electricity discovered those grow-ops.

Coquitlam RCMP arrested at least four people, apprehended two children and
are looking into seizing two $500,000 homes under proceeds-of-crime
legislation.