POT COPS BUST 80 INDOOR GROW OPS

B.C. bud is going to be a little bit more difficult to get for a
while.

In the biggest-ever crackdown on marijuana cultivation in B.C., police
shut down 80 grow operations during a week-long blitz.

"It will cause a significant disruption in the supply," Randy Elliot
of the Organized Crime Agency said yesterday.

"We had officers from Prince Rupert to the south and green teams all
over the province taking part."

The April 3 to April 7 blitz led to:

- The arrest of 96 men and women aged 17 to 45.

- The seizure of 14,258 marijuana plants with an estimated street
value of $8.2 million.

- The seizure of 57 kilograms of packaged marijuana ready for
distribution.

- The seizure of grow-op equipment worth $400,000.

- The seizure of two semi-automatic handguns, six rifles and two
shotguns.

Elliot said 11 children found in some of the premises -- 77 houses and
three warehouses -- have been referred to the children's ministry.

The ministry has apprehended at least 40 children found in grow
operations since February.

"We estimate now there are at least 10,000 grow ops in B.C.," said
Elliot.

He said the blitz, called the marijuana action plan, was initiated by
a group of senior officers called the regional operational police
managers committee.

"The officers saw all kinds of operations and most of the homes were
in the Greater Vancouver area," he said.

"One home was heavily fortified with steel bars on all doors and
windows and another had a security system, which included three
exterior surveillance cameras.

"One of the operations was run by an outlaw motorcycle
gang."

At least six of the grow-ops were powered through bypassing B.C. Hydro
connections.

"Stay tuned for more," said Elliot, indicating that more busts are on
the way.

The indoor marijuana growing industry in B.C., fuelled by American
demand for the potent pot and lenient sentencing by the courts, has
made B.C. internationally notorious.

Police are troubled by the escalating violence and the potential for
trouble associated with the grow operations, saying at least 45 per
cent of the busts have yielded weapons.

"These guys want to guard their crop and are heavily armed," said
Scott Rintoul of the RCMP's drug awareness service.

Earlier this month in Burnaby, John Ly was killed outside his home in
the 3800-block of Lozells Avenue in a quiet middle-class
neighbourhood.

There was a grow op in the house and some marijuana plants packed and
ready for distribution, indicating that Ly may have been the victim of
a drug deal gone sour.

Police have also reported violent home invasions and drive-by
shootings by gangs preying on each others' crops.

A police source told The Province several shootings and beatings are
linked to a roving Vietnamese gang that was ripping off growers.

"The growers got together and put an end to that and settled some old
scores," he said.

The source said police intelligence shows at least 20 Vietnamese cells
in greater Vancouver, some of them with links to drug distributors in
Britain.

Two recent police busts, one in Vancouver and another in Chilliwack,
found a total of six British nationals of Vietnamese origin in the
grow operations.

Last month, the Organized Crime Agency swooped on 24 homes in a
"multiple takedown" in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey.

The raids stemmed from a Vancouver case last December and police
believe the pot-growing operations "are linked to an organized crime
group."

Police sources said the original information for that bust indicated
one Vietnamese-run cell operated about 43 grow houses in the Vancouver
area.

"The name that kept cropping up all over the place was a guy who is
well-known to police," said the source.

The man, The Province has learned, is being sued by the government for
collecting more than $120,000 in welfare while living off the avails
off crime.

The suspect has also served a one-year jail term for running a
shoplifting network.

"It's organized crime at its height," said the source, adding the
proceeds from marijuana growing are used to fund other criminal
activities.