GROW-OPS TAKING THE HIGH ROAD

Cops Seize Tractor-Trailers Filled With Pot As Gangs Go Mobile With
Business

Organized crime in the Fraser Valley is putting marijuana on 18
wheels.

Gangs are now using big rigs to house grow-ops in an effort to escape
detection, according to police.

Langley RCMP and Abbotsford Police have seized seven tractor-trailers
packed with thousands of pot plants since October, five of those in
Langley in the past month.

The street value of the seizures is pegged at $100,000 or more
depending on where the weed was destined, say police.

Const. Ian MacDonald with the Abbotsford Police said a lot of B.C. bud
heads south of the border where its value significantly jumps,
sometimes being traded pound-for-pound with cocaine, or for cash and
automatic weapons.

None of the busts have resulted in arrests so far, but investigations
are ongoing, with the two most recent seizures occurring in Langley.

A Dec. 2 search at a warehouse unit in the 9700 block of 197B Street
netted more than 500 plants in two trailers and another on Monday in
the 3300 block of 262 Street bagged more than 130 plants. Langley RCMP
Cpl. Holly Marks said the people running mobile grow-ops are doing it
to avoid nosy landlords.

"Landlords have to post an inspection notice, so [criminals] are
basically given warning that someone is going to come," she said.
"That mobility allows them to not necessarily succumb to being found
out . . . and they don't lose the grow."

With a rash of home-based, grow-op rips resulting in violence and
automatic gunfire in urban Abbotsford settings during the past few
months, MacDonald said criminals are also taking advantage of the
extra on-site security that storage units provide.

"It creates more distance and anonymity to the actual owner [compared
to a rental house] . . . and storage units often have their own
in-house security."

"Criminals are creatures of habit, and somewhere along the line this
became a good idea. The idea has obviously taken off," he said.

Despite the mobile nature of the trailer grows, MacDonald said
criminals wouldn't want to move their gear in the middle of a
production cycle, rather they would do it inbetween growing cycles.

"I don't know that you would be wanting to drive down the freeway and
be pulled over with your mobile grow-op," said MacDonald.

With Langley and Abbotsford considered "the sticks" by many, MacDonald
said these new mobile operations could be a cause for other concerns.

"To see these [mobile grows] in two cities that have large rural
areas, I think that opens the door for the potential for these to be
applied to more urban environments."