INTERPRETER NEEDED BEFORE GROW-OP CASE CAN PROCEED

The lack of a Cantonese interpreter led to another delay in the case
of a major greenhouse grow-op.

One of the five men charged in connection with the 5,100 marijuana
plants doesn't speak enough English to understand what was going in a
Kelowna courtroom on Friday. [redacted] shrugged his shoulders
when a justice of the peace asked him whether he had met with his
Legal Aid lawyer.

The other four men - [redacted] - all have legal counsel, most from
out of town. Kelowna lawyer
Stan Tessmer spoke on their behalf.

JP Kathy Bullach adjourned the case to next week and ordered a
Cantonese interpreter to translate if Wong still doesn't have a lawyer.

Police arrested the five men when they raided a rural property north
of Beaverdell on Sept. 3. Officers found 15 sophisticated greenhouses
containing the marijuana plants on a 15-hectare property.

The men, in their 40s and early 50s, are charged with possession of
marijuana for the purposes of trafficking and producing a controlled
substance. The Crown wants jail terms for all five.

Tessmer said outside the courtroom they'll plead not
guilty.

Investigators believe the greenhouses were built this year. When
officers swooped in, the marijuana plants were all budding, more than
a metre high and ready for harvest within two weeks.

The five suspects appeared to be living on the homestead, but had no
title to the property. The owner died in a motor-vehicle crash on
Highway 33 in December 2006.