COPS TAKE OUT MORE THAN 30,000 MARIJUANA PLANTS ON ISLAND

Police pulled 30,137 marijuana plants out of the Vancouver Island back
country as part of an annual eradication program.

Although the RCMP says it locates grow-ops year round, police normally
step up their efforts in late summer when the plants are budding and
may soon be harvested.

An RCMP helicopter and two Sea King helicopters were involved in the
crackdown, which lasted about two weeks.

Last summer, the RCMP reported they had seized about 29,000 plants on
Vancouver Island, up from 23,000 the previous year.

Most pot crops range from 200 to 900 plants, although police busted a
1,300-plant grow-op this summer in the Comox Valley, said Comox RCMP
Const. Tammy Douglas. RCMP also destroyed a crop of 1,032 plants near
Fanny Bay last month.

Douglas said that about 460 individual sites suspected to be locations
of grow-ops were identified by police before the two-week crack down.

Although police concentrated their efforts across Vancouver Island,
most grow-ops are hidden in remote areas, said Douglas.