POLICE SEIZE 16,500 POT PLANTS IN ISLAND ERADICATION CAMPAIGN

The annual RCMP aerial marijuana eradication campaign on the Island
has wrapped up, says police spokesperson Constable Darren Lagan.

That doesn't mean however that area pot growers are off the hook.

"We've wrapped up the actual aerial campaign and we are now in the
harvesting period," Lagan says. "As well, the helicopters will stay
up."

Police reconnaissance crews identified 250 outdoor marijuana growing
sites, varying in size from as few as 20 plants to as many as 300. In
all, across the Island, police seized 16,500 marijuana plants.

In the Oceanside area, Lagan says approximately 1,000 plants were
spotted and seized.

Lagan declined to assign a value to the seizures, noting the price
varies wildly, depending on the quality, which can vary greatly in
outdoor operations.

"We don't put values on them," he says. "It's a different grade from
indoor marijuana."

Lagan says the haul is fairly normal for the area.

"We tend to harvest more plants from the northern end of the Island,"
he says. "That's not a reflection on communities in the northern
Island however. It's not local residents setting this up, it's groups
from larger areas. The northern Island has more Crown land on it, and
for growers, it's a more suitable site. In Victoria and Duncan it's
more populated and there are fewer sites than on the north Island."

The operation began on Aug. 22, with an integrated team of police
officers from the RCMP, Saanich Police Department and Victoria Police
Department, along with transport help from the Canadian military, were
involved in the campaign.