BIGGEST POT BUST EVER

More Than 11,000 Plants Valued At $3 Million Found

Above ground, a Quonset hut at rural Nixon Road property near
Chilliwack looked like just another out-building, but what it
concealed below was anything but ordinary.

The hut marked an entrance to an underground bunker, which held a
marijuana growing operation that Chilliwack RCMP are calling the
biggest one they have ever busted, with more than 11,000 plants.

Chilliwack RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop said she could
recall a bust about five years ago that, with about 10,000 plants, was
almost as large but far less complex.

"It wasn't really as sophisticated as this one," she told the Times.
"This is definitely the largest, most sophisticated."

Members of the Chilliwack RCMP Crime Reduction Unit and general duty
officers, assisted by the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team,
executed a search warrant at the underground bunker on a property at
the 7600 block of Nixon Road on Wednesday at approximately 8 a.m.
There they found the operation, which contained 11,520 plants. Police
say a conservative estimate of the value of the crop is at least $3
million.

To protect these plants, the operators had built an elaborate security
system, which included rigging a couple of entrances to shoot bear
spray at intruders.

"It was certainly fortified and rigged," Dunlop said.

There was also a sub-floor built to conceal an elevator-style
hydraulic lift that allowed for access to the bunker, and inside the
bunker, there were four separate growing rooms.

The operators had video cameras in the bunker with monitors running
into an adjacent residence on the property. Police arrested one person
who was at the residence at the time. They say the man is not known to
them for previous criminal activity.

No one has been charged yet, and investigators cannot confirm any
links to organized crime at this time. However, police think more
people are probably involved because of the scale of the operation.
"The level of sophistication involved would suggest more people,"
Dunlop said.

The site also was taking a toll on the surrounding environment, as
police say there were chemicals spilled at the site that had been used
in the grow-op. The effects on the soil are not yet known. As well,
the operators had run an irrigation line from nearby Elk Creek, a
fish-bearing stream, and were pumping water to supply the grow-op.

Water was not the only thing the operation was siphoning illegally.
Police estimate that based on the amount of time they believe the
grow-op was in business, it probably consumed more than $400,000 of
stolen hydro electric power.

Work will now begin to mitigate some of the environmental damage at
the site.

"We're trying to put everything back the way nature intended," Dunlop
said.

Chilliwack RCMP are working with the City of Chilliwack, the
Chilliwack Fire Department, BC Hydro, and others, as well as the
Ministry of the Environment to make sure the environmental damage is
reversed and the site never reestablished as a grow-op.

Police are asking the public for any information on suspicious
activity in the area or any vehicles that could have been seen driving
to or from the site. Anyone with information is asked to contact the
Chilliwack RCMP or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or online at
www.chilliwackcrimestoppers.ca.