LEGAL MARIJUANA GROW OP TARGET OF HOME INVASION

Firearms and a legal marijuana grow operation were the likely targets in a
home invasion robbery in an upscale river valley neighbourhood in northeast
London, neighbours say.

Police released few details about the robbery in which six men burst
into a home on Cobblestone Road near Highbury Avenue and Kilally Road
just before midnight Sunday.

The people inside the home were tied up, police said. They were able
to free themselves and call police after the intruders left.

"It wasn't a random event," London police Const. Amy Phillipo said
yesterday.

A neighbour said the home is believed to be the site of a legal
marijuana grow operation.

A paraplegic who uses a wheelchair lives there.

"It's our understanding that a man who lives there has a licence to
grow marijuana for medicinal purposes for his own use," the neighbour
said.

It's believed he uses marijuana for pain management, the neighbour
said.

A Health Canada program allows certified medical users to grow their
own marijuana, have someone grow it for them or buy it straight from
Health Canada.

Police officers investigating the robbery removed rifles and marijuana
plants yesterday, neighbours said.

"About a dozen rifles were removed," a neighbour said.

The man openly smokes the plant in his backyard and grows marijuana in
his basement, a neighbour said.

"You can see bright lights shining out of the basement at
night."

The residence also has two security cameras, he said.

Neighbours have seen "30 plants, some as high as 10 feet, on the deck
of the house and a dozen guys smoking on the deck," said a Cobblestone
resident.

"There always seem to be a lot of cars at the house. It's like a Tim
Hortons drive-through. It seems a lot of people knew marijuana was
grown there."

Police arrested two men and were looking for four more suspects,
Phillipo said.

Police wouldn't confirm the information from neighbours, but they did
say a vehicle was stolen from the home and later found in north London.

The six men left the house in two vehicles, police
said.

Officers spotted suspects a short time later and began chasing a
vehicle near Cheapside and McNay streets.

Four men ran from the vehicle. Officers arrested two men after a foot
chase.

The investigation continues.