POT GROWERS PROTECTIVE OF THEIR CROPS

'These people are really unsavoury characters,' RCMP officer warns

It's not like a Cheech and Chong routine from the 1970s.

There's no infamous duo weaving harmlessly through the fields smoking
a doobie and cracking dumb jokes. And no one is smiling or waving
comically at the police officers as they swoop in to destroy a crop of
marijuana.

In fact, many of the people growing the marijuana crops police
officers have been destroying in this province over the past few weeks
don't even smoke the stuff. They use it as a cash crop.

And when there's money to be made, any police officer worth his or her
salt will tell you, organized crime has a large chunk of the pie, said
Sgt. Keith MacKinnon of the RCMP's drug and organized crime awareness
service.

"These people are really unsavoury characters," MacKinnon said Friday,
following a week-long, marijuana eradication operation in Cape Breton.

"You don't want your kid in the woods building a fort and happening
upon one of these grow operations."

That's because those growing the crops "protect these places, so
people have to be aware and take precautions."

Protection ranges from highly sophisticated security devices to
rudimentary ones that have potentially lethal consequences, the
officer said.

"I saw a shotgun shell embedded in a two-by-four with a nail and a
trip wire that would fire the shell at about hip level if you walked
through."

While most of the security is aimed at other drug dealers who might
want to steal the plants, "there's a risk to innocent people who are
walking or hiking in theses remote areas," MacKinnon said.

Either way, they're not good places to be around, he said. "You'll get
guard dogs and no trespassing signs in the middle of nowhere and these
are places to stay away from."

And the people growing these crops aren't doing so in an
environmentally conscious manner. They'll throw just about anything on
it to make it produce more buds, the officer said.

"We're not talking about people with a conscience here."

A combined operation in Cape Breton this week resulted in officers
from Cape Breton Regional Police, Port Hawkesbury street crime unit
and RCMP drug officers in Sydney seizing 356 marijuana plants.

Using a helicopter to spot illegal crops from the air, officers found
the plants in Arichat, Cheticamp, St. Peter's, Louisbourg, Margaree
Valley and Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

MacKinnon said police appreciate any tips they get from the public and
encourage people to keep a watchful eye for grow operations.