AREA POT CROPS KEEP OPP HARVESTERS BUSY

Eastern Ontario was the source of nearly one-quarter of the 118,443
marijuana plants seized across the province during an eight-week
eradication campaign conducted by Ontario Provincial Police.

"We have lot of fertile area and we'll have to combat this for years
to come," regional OPP spokesman Sgt. Kristine Rae told The Recorder
and Times on Wednesday.

Rae was responding to questions about the OPP's annual provincewide
eradication campaign that coincides with the harvest of the pot plants
in late summer and early autumn.

Investigations into 220 grow operations resulted in 110 charges
against 56 people across the province.

Rae didn't have a breakdown of specific numbers for Leeds and
Grenville investigations, which would fall under either Kingston or
Ottawa area drug units depending on the location.

"Sometimes, there is crossover," she said.

She said Ottawa-area investigations led to the seizure of 10,828
plants from 14 growing operations and 10 Criminal Code charges laid
against six people.

Meanwhile, Kingston-area investigations resulted in the seizure of
27,624 plants from 50 grow-ops and 40 drug charges laid against 20
people.

Rae said the eastern Ontario seizures do not include two major drug
busts in this region last month - one near Merrickville and the other
near Delta.

The Delta-area raid Sept. 21 by Leeds OPP led to the seizure of 9,100
plants and 3,400 pounds of harvested marijuana valued at almost $16
million.

Twelve people from Toronto were charged in connection with the
investigation which Rae described at the time as one of the largest
seizures ever in this area.

The bust came one day after Grenville OPP seized 10,500 plants valued
at $10.5 million near Merrickville.

Both of those busts were separate investigations outside of the
eradication campaign, said Rae.

She said it goes to prove "there's even more (marijuana) out there"
than is found by police.

Another worrisome matter is the increasing involvement of organized
crime in the grow operations reflected across the province and evident
locally, said Rae.

She said the police receive great support from the public in their
investigations of grow-ops.

"We get a lot of tips from the community and we hope that continues."