GROW-OPS GO UPSCALE IN SURREY NEIGHBOURHOODS

More Pot-Growing Systems Are Turning Up In Pricey Custom-Built Homes

Marijuana-growing operations are invading some of the most affluent
neighbourhoods in the Lower Mainland, a community forum in Surrey heard
Thursday.

"Grow-ops are no longer just found in rundown houses with a pit bull on a
leash," said Rob Langford, president of the Fraser Heights Community
Association.

"They are now appearing in custom-built $500,000 homes ... on quiet streets
in Fraser Heights."

More than 150 people turned up at a meeting at the Fraser Heights secondary
school Thursday night to discuss the problem of growing operations.

The meeting was attended by Surrey North MP Chuck Cadman, Surrey Tynehead
Liberal MLA Dave Hayer and Surrey councillors Gary Tymoschuk and Dianne Watts.

And all had the same message: No neighbourhood is safe from grow-ops.

"It started with the rundown houses that nobody cared about," said Watts.
"Then it moved to owned homes. Now it's custom-made grow-ops."

Surrey RCMP Staff-Sergeant Ross Fisher said as police crack down on
grow-ops in some neighbourhoods, criminals move into others.

"We've seen the progression and we always seem to be one step behind in our
fight," said Fisher.

Fisher said the existing court penalties for marijuana grows are not a
sufficient deterrent.

"If I told you the profit margin you'd make on a grow-op, you'd all go out
and do it," he said.

Cadman said the federal government's new marijuana bill -- which proposes
increasing the maximum penalties for growing from seven years to 14 years
- -- is pointless because judges hardly ever give the maximum sentence now.

"What we do need is mandatory minimum sentences," he said.

Earlier this month, the federal Crown seized a Surrey house used by its
owner as a marijuana-growing operation.

The forfeiture of the home marked a first in B.C., and was only the second
time in Canada a home had been seized as a proceed of crime related to a
growing operation. The first such seizure took place April 30 in London, Ont.

Surrey RCMP have assigned two officers to work full-time on
proceeds-of-crime investigations connected with growing operations in the
hopes such seizures will deter marijuana growers.

Surrey RCMP say they have nine others homes in Surrey under "restraint,"
meaning they cannot be bought or sold pending a court decision on whether
they too must be forfeited.

There are increasing concerns that the marijuana trade in B.C. is being
taken over by organized crime.

Police say that Vietnamese gangs and the Hells Angels are now working
cooperatively on growing operations, but fear there is a risk of turf wars
between the two groups in the future.