POT GROWERS USE BUNKERS TO HIDE CROP

Pot growers in British Columbia are increasingly turning to
sophisticated underground bunkers to hide their illicit crop from law
enforcement agencies.

Sgt. Dave Goddard, of the RCMP's Greater Vancouver Drug Section, said
the bunkers can be high-end -- with a concrete foundation, wiring and
sensors -- or less sophisticated, like the hidden underground
shipping containers found by police in Mission this week.

"They are doing everything possible to avoid detection and if it
means relocating underground, absolutely -- we are seeing much more
of this going on," Goddard said yesterday. "It has become much more
prevalent not only here on the Lower Mainland, but up-country as
well. We are also seeing more bunkers in the interior of British Columbia."

Mission RCMP Cpl. Raina Siou said officers were called to assist
firefighters at a rural property Monday morning after a fire broke
out in four large shipping containers full of pot and buried
underground. More than 2,000 plants were located on the acreage that
appears to be connected to a neighbouring property.

The growers would have needed both a backhoe and a crane to set up
their operation, Siou said.

Last month, Abbotsford police uncovered an even more sophisticated
bunker that they said had a retractable floor like something from an
Indiana Jones movie. Police also found motion sensors and a cache of weapons.