RCMP, Military Sweep Island for Pot

The likelihood of spotting military helicopters overhead signifies
harvest time as police take to the skies over Vancouver Island in
their annual search for marijuana grow-ops.

The project, led by the RCMP Federal Drug Enforcement Branch, sees
police officers hoisted from helicopters onto Crown lands, where they
will destroy outdoor crops of marijuana.

"The locations of these outdoor grow operations are often remote and
pose unique challenges for our officers," said Cpl. Darren Lagan,
spokesperson for the project.

"The terrain can be difficult and dangerous to cross and access by
ground is both timely and difficult. Through our partnership with the
Canadian military we are able to utilize their expertise and equipment
to gain safe access to these locations."

Over the coming days, officers will visit multiple pre-determined
sites across Vancouver Island, and expect to destroy tens of thousands
of mature plants.

"These are not small pot grows. These are operations averaging 200
plants in size, to as large as 900 plants. That size of grow operation
takes significant startup funding, physical labor and dedication to
cultivate. By destroying them, we are disrupting the flow of illegal
drugs to the streets of our communities and, in turn, disrupting the
flow of funding to organized crime groups in the province," said Lagan.

The project end date and locations of active grow sites is not made
public but Lagan said "we see more on the north Island, especially
north of the Comox Valley where there's a lot more remote Crown lands
. we know if we stop doing this it will become a bigger problem than
it already is. We're seeing sites that are spread out into smaller
patches over a larger geographic area, I think in an effort to conceal."

Lagan said it is exceedingly rare to apprehend suspects during the
helicopter raids but noted that's not the point of the program that
has a sole motive of dismantling as many grow-ops as possible.

"Last year we took 75,000 plants out and this year we expect the same
if not higher," he said. "We know we're not getting them all but that
is still hundreds of thousands in money that's not going to fund
criminal activity elsewhere."

Lagan said spotting the illegal plants is a matter of training the eye
to recognize different shades of green and being able to distinguish
which ones are marijuana.

"It looks a lot like broccoli from the air."