NINE MEN FACE POT-TRAFFICKING CHARGES

Tips From Residents Fed-Up With Drug-Related Crime Helped, RCMP Say

Nine men -- three of them brothers -- are to appear in court next
week charged with growing and trafficking pot after Mounties seized
more than 45,000 plants from eight properties in the rural community of Likely.

Tips from the public were a significant contributor to the police
case against the accused, said Williams Lake RCMP Cpl. Marc Menard.

"The people are fed up," he said. "They don't want to tolerate this
any more." With the city's drug problem driving the crime rate to the
highest per-capita level in B.C., residents are keen to provide
information to police, Menard said.

Drugs have become an in-your-face issue in Williams Lake, with gangs
intimidating citizens and users stealing to feed their habits, said
Coun. Tom Barr.

"The general consensus is we've had it up to our necks -- hooligans
running around and scaring people and giving no thought to anyone
else," said Barr, whose beer and wine store has been hit by thieves
two dozen times in the past three years.

"The police are doing a hell of a job catching quite a few of them. I
think one of the problems that we have is they're turned loose right
away." The pot seizures in Likely, a 45-minute drive from Williams
Lake, occurred between November 2006 and November 2007.

Slated to appear in Williams Lake Provincial Court on Sept. 10 are [redacted].

Police say the nine are members of an organized crime group.

If a conviction is secured, the Mounties will seek to have the
properties associated with the grow-ops forfeited to the Crown.

"You take their money, you take their dope, you take their properties
away," Menard said. "It's got to have some impact."