GROW-OP ROW GETS BUSTED IN YARROW

A cluster of marijuana grow-ops were dismantled on Yarrow Central
Road Thursday morning.

The action netted six arrests of local residents on the southwestern
edge of Chilliwack.

Three homes were found to be active pot-producing sites, while the
other two were believed to have been hastily deactivated, say Chilliwack RCMP.

Four of the houses were side by side along the main drag.

Two rifles were seized, along with a combined total of almost 400
marijuana plants.

"As Yarrow is a small community, it is believed that most of these
(grow-ops) are connected in some way," said RCMP Const. Steve Hiscoe.

Chilliwack Mayor Clint Hames said he was "delighted" by the arrests
and the dismantled grow-ops, and hopes it was neighbours who reported
the existence of the illegal grow-ops.

"The whole situation just speaks to the fact that some folks are just
as stupid as they can get to think they could hide the existence of
that many grow-ops in a small area," he fumed.

"If they think the neighbourhood is just going to stand by and be
transformed by folks like this, well it just speaks to level of
intelligence we're dealing with."

Hames characterized the criminal element involved in
marijuana-growing as "misguided and arrogant" and added he's not
aware of any recent increase in crime in Yarrow.

The Mounties say the proliferation of pot production in the Upper
Fraser Valley is linked to organized crime and violence, and "the
overriding goal" of the force is to ensure safe homes and safe
communities for Chilliwack.

"We believe that marijuana use and the criminality that surrounds it
harms individuals and communities," Hiscoe said. A major concern is
that "more and more" loaded firearms are popping up when police are
conducting investigations or searches, he added.

Police officers swarmed all over the Yarrow sites yesterday, removing
key items for evidence from the detached houses after executing the
search warrants.

A long-time resident, who agreed to be interviewed anonymously,
called the grow-op situation "scary" in Yarrow.

Operators have simply gravitated from larger city centres into more
rural areas in recent years, she said.

"It's just rampant out here," she said. "When I come home from work,
and drive over the tracks, the marijuana is all I can smell because
they vent them at night."

As a mother of three children, she's angered by the growing

number of grow-ops setting up shop in Yarrow because of public safety concerns.

"I'm against what it brings to the neighbourhood," she said.

"It's scary. We're just a small town out here."

Police say what was first thought to be a home invasion in Yarrow in
April, was most likely a 'grow-rip,' when a grow-op is targeted by
thieves for its valuable black-market bounty.

Six suspects, all Yarrow residents aged 16 to 54, were taken into
police custody Thursday morning, confirmed Hiscoe.

These Yarrow Central Road addresses had either active or dismantled
grow-ops within: 42558, 41964, 41958, 41950, 41932. Another grow-op
containing 96 plants at 41975 Yarrow Central Road was taken down last week.