SEWER WORKER'S NOSE SNIFFS OUT DRUG HOUSE

You know it's all gone to pot the day a sewer worker smells something
strange coming down the pipe.

That was the case when Calgary sewer pipeman Ken Johnston's nose detected
an unusual aroma in a southeast sewage pipe.

A strong smell of marijuana was wafting down the sewer pipe and police were
contacted.

About 75 plants with a street value of $105,000 were seized from a
marijuana hydroponics growing operation in the house attached to Johnston's
sewer pipe.

Johnston and his four-man team were repairing a sewage line in the 3300
block of 12 Ave. S.E., when he smelled the strange odor.

"They were repairing a line and had dug an excavation there," said
Johnston's boss, Mike Caputo, a sewer division supervisor.

Lowell Arsenault, 37, is charged with cultivation of marijuana, possession
of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and theft of electricity.

Copyright (c) 1998, Canoe Limited Partnership.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski