GREENHOUSE POT BUST BIGGEST EVER

Six Suspects Tending Huge Crop Arrested By Cops Acting On Tip

The largest grow-up bust in B.C. history could provide every person in
the province with a marijuana joint, say police.

A single crop from an operation uncovered in Bridge Lake last week
could produce as many as five million joints, said 100 Mile House RCMP
spokesman Const. Craig Douglass.

"In my knowledge and experience, this is the largest grow-op on a
single property that I've been to," Douglass said.

More than 15,000 marijuana plants were seized on the Wilson Lake Road
property after police, acting on a tip, obtained a search warrant for
the rural property. They found 23 greenhouses hidden in the hills and
obscured by trees.

Six men, who were found in the greenhouses, were arrested. Their names
haven't been released and police refused to say if they had previous
criminal records or were known to them.

The six face charges of possession of a controlled substance for the
purpose of trafficking, and production of a controlled substance.

Douglass said that the bust was the first of a series recently in the
area. The other busts were not linked to last week's, he said.

"We have evidence that there are a significant amount of grow-ops in
this area," Douglass said. "I would think organized-crime groups are
branching out because it's harder to have a successful grow-op in the
Lower Mainland.

"You're going to hear a lot more about grow-ops in the north." The
largest grow-op bust in Canadian history involved more than 21,000
plants seized from the former Molson Brewery plant in Barrie, Ont., in
2005.

Williams Lake RCMP last week busted a grow-op with more than 3,500
plants and seven kilograms of processed marijuana on a property near
Horsefly.

Five people face charges.