RCMP 'PROJECT E-PILCH' TARGETS GROW-OPS

A number of alleged marijuana growers are expected to appear in court
next month, following a large and lengthy investigation in Likely
where more than 33,000 marijuana plants were discovered on eight
different properties.

The RCMP's North District Drug Enforcement Section, the North District
General Investigation Section and Williams Lake RCMP detachment
investigated a series of marijuana grow operations in Likely in an
investigation known as Project E-Pilch.

The RCMP executed search warrants on eight properties, which are all
associated with the same unnamed, organized crime group.

The first search warrant was executed Sept. 12, 2007 on a property on
Bootjack Forest Service Road and two properties on Likely Road.
Officers found 18,367 plants on the three properties.

Police then searched two more properties Oct. 24 on Little Lake Road,
where they found 8,290 marijuana plants. Nov. 20, 2007, three more
properties were searched on Cedar Creek Road. Officers found 6,662
plants on the three properties.

RCMP say all of the properties were found to be used in the
cultivation of marijuana. A total of 33,319 marijuana plants and 11
kilograms of marijuana bud were seized from all eight properties.
Charged with production of marijuana and possession of a controlled
substance for the purpose of trafficking are: (NAMES REDACTED)

Each of the accused could face a penalty of life in jail and the
properties may be seized.

Some of the properties in the investigation had several structures
located on the property. On average, the buildings, which contained
grow-ops, consumed about 10 times the amount of electricity as an
average single family residence. There was no hydro diversion on any
of these properties, however.

Several large buildings, averaging 6,000 square feet, were recently
built on some of these properties and specifically designed to house
large scale grow operations.

Six of the properties have been legally restrained and the RCMP are
seeking forfeiture of the properties to the provincial government.

All of the accused are scheduled to appear in Williams Lake Provincial
Court Sept. 10.

Likely resident Darlene Hood said she and her husband Robin Hood - the
president of the Chamber of Commerce - never were bothered by the grow
operations.

She says she and her husband have more important things to worry
about, such as keeping their own company afloat.

"This grow-op stuff is so been there done that. It hasn't harmed us
any," Hood said, adding she and her husband focus most of their energy
on their forestry company, which relies on grants from the provincial
government.

"Rob and I put more energy in arguing with the provincial government
in getting things done faster than dealing with a grow-op," she said.

"Our lifeline is not a grow op. I'm not making any money off of it,
I'm not doing anything, but our lifeline is our forestry business and
it's going to hell."

She said she doesn't care whether there are marijuana grow operations
in Likely, and thinks the government should legalize it.

"When it comes to the government yacking about dollars, why don't they
just legalize it?"

Cpl. Marc Menard of Williams Lake RCMP said in the short term,
marijuana can appear to be good for the local economy, but in the long
term can have a destructive impact on the local economy.

"Once these people are out of the picture and they did what they had
to do, people who are accustomed to the high life all of a sudden have
to struggle to get back to reality," he said.

"The reality is people who establish grow-ops in that fashion will be
taken down."

He says children see parents get involved in that type of activity and
think it's an OK thing to do, which causes them to follow in their
parents' footsteps.

Menard said the impact the drug has on the rest of the country is
large, and the only ones making money are the drug dealers who don't
care about the local economy.

Those who were charged in this investigation, for example, are all
from the Lower Mainland.

"Once all these people are sitting in jail somewhere, who's going to
support mom and pop that felt pretty good about making a few extra
dollars on the weekend because they helped out these drug dealers?"

Before the project, RCMP executed five search warrants on Likely
properties associated to the same crime group.

Those earlier warrants found 11,807 plants, making the total number
seized from the organized crime group to be 45,126 since the first
warrant Nov. 22, 2006.

Two men have been convicted of production of a controlled substance
and one property has been forfeited to the provincial government.

Other court cases are pending.