DOWTOWN URBAN BUNKERS CONCEAL MARIJUANA PLANTS

Police Descend On City Homes, Arrest Six People And Seize Thousands Of
Plants Growing In Underground Rooms

Nanaimo RCMP have uncovered a network of sophisticated underground
drug bunkers, hidden below workshops and houses, that concealed
thousands of growing marijuana plants.

At 10 a.m. on Friday, as many as 40 officers, including those with the
emergency response team, "green team" and canine units, simultaneously
swarmed five homes in central and downtown Nanaimo, arresting three
men and three women.

Police searched three properties along Terminal Avenue North, one on
Milton Street and one on Watkins Street. City property records suggest
at least three of the homes may be owned by members of the same
family, but police would not say if the registered homeowners were
among the people arrested.

Officers left the properties on Milton and Watkins streets by early
afternoon, but remained on site at the Terminal Avenue property all
day Friday. The large lot, set back from the street, has a recently
built home and an older, rundown building. Police sources say there
are two bunkers on the lot, one under each house. A trap door inside
the new home led to one bunker and another trapdoor in the bathroom
floor of the older home led to a second bunker. There were thousands
of plants inside the two underground rooms, police said.

A large moving truck that police sometimes use to haul away seizures
could be seen on the property as officers came and left throughout the
afternoon, including several in unmarked vehicles.

The raids came as a surprise to neighbours of the Terminal Avenue
homes, who were shocked to hear that such a well-established
marijuana-growing operation was in the middle of their busy family
neighbourhood.

Neighbours like Jesse Wickett watched the construction of the new home
for months.

"Since we moved in, we were curious what they were doing," said
Wickett. "I'm kind of shocked. It's kind of creepy."

Neighbour Rob Bagshaw had just returned home from breakfast at a
nearby restaurant when he saw a convoy of RCMP vehicles rush down
Terminal Avenue.

"I have never seen anything weird there before," said Bagsaw, who
lives across the street from the Terminal property. "I have never seen
a person there before."

Neighbours said they saw a pickup and groundskeepers visit the
property once in a while, but saw no one who may have lived there. The
lack of any homeowners perturbed one longtime neighbour so much he was
ready to walk across the street and knock on the door.

Neighbours of the Milton Street home said the people renting there had
only been there for a few months.

Police say it is too early in the investigation to say whether the
suspects have links to organized crime. The scope of the operation
will be investigated as officers continue to clear the homes.

Police say they have raided at least one other bunker in Nanaimo in
recent years, but this high-end operation is not common.

"It's unusual, especially in a residential area," said Nanaimo RCMP
spokesman Const. Gary O'Brien. "It's fairly sophisticated."

UNDERGROUND CRIME

Criminals going underground to stash drugs or weapons is uncommon but
not new in Nanaimo.

Sept. 2008: Police seize a cache of weapons from an Extension-area
bunker, as well as drugs, money, explosives and stolen property.

April 2005: Police seize nearly 2,000 pot plants from a
growing-operation burrowed into a Northwood Road residence.

June 2000: A South Wellington home raided by police unearthed drugs,
counterfeit cash surveillance equipment and weapons, including a
rocket launcher, AK 47 assault rifle, Taser and swords. Police went to
the Grandom Place home searching for marijuana when the underground
concrete bunker was discovered.

March 1999: Police busted a marijuana growing-operation concealed in a
concrete bunker at a Caledonia Road home. Inside the bunker,
originally used for a water system, officers hauled away 21 seedlings,
30 pot plants and 42 other plants dried and ready to be cut.

Compiled by Daily News