GROW-OPS STILL PREFER COUNTRY

Big Difference In Two Busts Monday

Despite two arrests and the seizure of 150 plants at a grow-op in the
2800 block of Fairlane Avenue in downtown Abbotsford on Monday, drug
traffickers still prefer to cultivate marijuana in the country, police said.

Abbotsford Police spokesperson Const. Ian MacDonald said the second
grow operation hit by the drug enforcement unit the same day netted
four arrests, and saw more than 1,300 mature plants seized at a rural
property in the 28900 block of Downes Road.

"We're seeing fewer grow-ops in town and more going to the rural,
large properties, and bunkers and concealed [structures]," he said.

Rural locations afford those running grow operations increased
protection from prying eyes, and less chance of interference from police.

"There is enhanced security from the standpoint of not having
neighbours in close proximity monitoring your behaviour or observing
your patterns or people frequenting the locations," MacDonald said.

Properties out in the country tend to be farther from the road, which
also makes observation for police more difficult, he said, and
lessens the concerns attendant with growing pot, like the strong
smell marijuana presents, and the shipping in of supplies and
shipping out of product.

MacDonald said Abbotsford will see more grow-ops busted in 2010
compared to previous years because of pro-active targeting of residences.

"Not because there is necessarily a proliferation of them, but
because our drug enforcement unit and our gang suppression unit are
going to be extremely active over the summer," he said.