FINDING A GROW OPERATION

Police say with the increase in raids on large-scale indoor cannabis
cultivations, neighbours are becoming experts on what to look for, Paula
McCooey writes.

With marijuana grow operations on the rise in the past couple of years,
police drug squads in Ottawa and surrounding areas are busier than ever,
exposing operations that are so high-tech they run themselves.

The numbers paint the picture.

In 2000, there were two large-scale grow operations dismantled in Ottawa,
with $487,000 worth of marijuana seized; in 2001 there were 30 operations
taken down, with $9,104,000 worth of plants seized; in 2002 there were 52
operations eliminated, and $14,487,925 worth of plants confiscated.

The numbers aren't yet compiled for 2003, but investigators with the Ottawa
police drug unit say they are higher than the year before.

Major crime detective Sgt. Greg Brown was with the Ottawa police drug squad
for seven years and still works on many drug-related cases with the unit.

He believes one way to help get grow operations out of the community is to
make the public aware of the indicators that could reveal large-scale
operations.

"We've made some good inroads, there have been a lot of seizures in the last
four or five years," said Sgt. Brown.

"And there's a lot more that are going to come. Neighbours are becoming
experts in what to look for."

Neighbours saw the signs clearly on Saturday morning just after 8 a.m. in
Alta Vista at 2281 Courtice St., when they assumed smoke billowing out of a
home was the product of a fire. But when the Ottawa fire department knocked
on Son Thi Le's door, they didn't find a fire. Police were called and found
435 marijuana plants with a street value of $435,000 in the basement. They
also seized about $10,000 worth of equipment.

The 39-year-old woman was charged with production of a controlled substance
under the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act; possession with the purpose of
trafficking; and possession of proceeds of crime. She was released and is
scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 5.

Police said the grow operation appeared to be fairly new, and the source of
the "smoke" was actually steam being vented from the grow.

"When the temperatures are minus 30 (outside) and plus 30 (inside), there is
lots of humidity and it's going to leak out and it pretty much looks like a
vaporizer," said Sgt. Brown.

"Marijuana plants require heat and they require humidity, but you can't
contain that within the structure, they would have to be vented somehow and
quite often they go to great extremes to vent the stuff."

Police say the house was not drawing hydro power illegally.

Interference with hydro lines is an obvious sign police look for, because
the setup for large grows requires a lot of energy.

"You want to look for any kind of exterior modifications to the house," said
Sgt. Brown.

"A new installation of turbine roof vents; if you see someone tampering with
the hydro meter or jack hammering the garage floor.

"Because they have to bypass the hydro and more often than not the hydro
lines are buried."

Sgt. Brown says bungalows are often used for large organized grows because
they usually have large basements. The musty, pungent, smells emanating from
these homes are also good clues. A poorly kept lawn and frequently
uninhabited house could also raise eyebrows.

"A large group of individuals will attend the house for the purpose of
cultivating the plants and processing them and drying them," said Sgt.
Brown.

"And it takes a fair bit of labour, so it's not usually done by just one or
two people, quite often a large group of people will show up once every
couple of months."

Other police raids this week occurred inside a former Molson's brewery in
Barrie, Ont., on Saturday. Police uncovered what they say is the largest and
most elaborate indoor marijuana grow operation ever found in Ontario.

More than 100 officers from combined forces swarmed the massive 125,000
square-foot, three-storey building, while police helicopters hovered in the
sky.

Ten people were arrested on site and taken into custody, and police are
tracking more suspects.

Five Ottawa men were arrested Friday night in Napanee and Amherstview after
a prolonged investigation by the Kingston police and the Ontario Provincial
Police exposed a drug trafficking ring.

Dubbed Project Roundup, members of the Napanee and Loyalist OPP, OPP canine
unit, and Kingston police officers executed three search warrants at a
residence that also acted as a convenience store in Napanee, as well as a
second convenience store in Amherstview.

The raids were conducted after neighbours filed complaints, suspecting drug
activity at the stores.

Police seized a hand gun and ammunition, more than $6,000 in cash, and
marijuana with an estimated street value of $1,000 from the two stores.

Meanwhile, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry OPP, assisted in another
drug-related case last Wednesday.

Police seized 55 kilograms of packaged marijuana, with an estimated street
value of $817,200 early Wednesday morning.

A 40-year-old Cornwall man faces charges of possession of a controlled
substance for the purpose of trafficking, trafficking of a controlled
substance, possession of a controlled substance and two counts of breach of
probation.

"(Large marijuana grow operations) have been very prevalent for the past six
or seven years in our jurisdiction -- it was an explosion of these
sophisticated grow houses being fuelled by supply and demand factors," said
Sgt. Brown.

"The sophistication is incredible, they have it down now where no one has to
be at the residence, everything is automated, everything is timed, so
somebody can go every week just to make sure everything is OK and that the
house hasn't burned down."