POLICE DRUG RAID IN SURREY NETS HUGE CACHE OF WEAPONS

An arsenal of firearms and ammunition found in Surrey, including a
submachinegun equipped with a silencer, is the biggest cache of weapons
ever to be uncovered at a marijuana-growing operation in B.C.

And RCMP said Wednesday that while this particular incident is unique in
terms of the sophistication of the weaponry, it is part of a larger trend
of pot growers arming themselves.

The cache was found by Surrey RCMP during a drug raid in Whalley Tuesday.

It included a silencer-equipped M-10 submachinegun, a .357 revolver, a 9mm
submachinegun, an A-22 submachinegun, a .303 rifle, two 12-gauge shotguns,
detonation cord and blasting caps, an M-56 submachinegun, a 9mm Luger
submachinegun, six extended ammunition magazines and boxes of assorted
ammunition.

"Two to three years ago, officers would occasionally find firearms in
houses where there were grow operations and occasionally they would be
loaded," said Constable Grant Learned of Surrey RCMP. "Now it's rare that
when they go into a drug operation there aren't firearms and they aren't
loaded." There are about 200 suspected marijuana-growing operations in Surrey.

The prevalence of serious weaponry associated with marijuana growers, in
addition to the increasing sophistication of growing operations, debunks
the myth of marijuana as a passive drug in its production and consumption,
said Learned.

With the high price obtained for marijuana in the U.S. and the perceived
need of growers to protect themselves from people who want to steal their
plants and equipment, marijuana has become big business with ties to
organized crime.

Learned said with the reputed high quality of marijuana grown in B.C. and
reports that it is being traded kilo for kilo for cocaine in California,
growers can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. With that kind of
money, he said, they have to be concerned about someone coming in.

"People are becoming increasingly aware that in B.C. grown marijuana is no
longer a mom-and-pop business. This is organized crime making millions of
dollars."

The increase in weaponry at marijuana growing operations has evolved over
the last two to three years, said Constable Scott Rintoul with the drug
awareness program. Now, he said, it's not uncommon to find loaded shotguns
or handguns in strategic places in marijuana operations throughout the
province.

His investigating officers are beginning to see common denominators in
houses with growing operations. "We know they're all organized," he said.
And at the top of the list, he said, are the Hells Angels and Asian gangs.

But there hasn't yet been an overlap between the drug trade and the illicit
gun trade, said Rintoul.

"Certainly guys will trade drugs for guns," he said. "But usually they're a
different type of person."

The weapons, he said, are all stolen either locally from break-and-enters
or from the U.S.

The presence of weapons in marijuana-growing operations is presenting a
worrisome risk to investigating officers and people living in the
neighbourhood who could get caught in the crossfire if a gunfight were to
erupt, said Learned.

Learned said that last weekend two people who showed up at a growing
operation to collect an outstanding debt were shot and taken to hospital.
"And that's just this past weekend," he said.

On Tuesday, two men were arrested at the Whalley house, located at 10874
142 Street. They appeared in Surrey provincial court Wednesday on a variety
of drug and weapons-related charges.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski