RCMP TASK FORCE BUSTS 27 GROW OPS IN CARIBOO

A new RCMP task force has busted 27 marijuana grow operations and
seized over 54,000 marijuana plants in the Cariboo region since Sept.
7.

Police also seized six unregistered firearms and arrested 24 suspects
in the busts. Charges are pending further investigations.

RCMP Federal Drug Enforcement Branch spokesman Const. Michael
McLaughlin said the Cariboo Region Integrated Marijuana Enforcement
(CRIME) Task Force is just getting started.

"We're not content with just street-level arrests. We want to get
important players in jail," McLaughlin said. "These are not mom and
pop organizations, this is organized crime."

The task force is made up of 20-25 officers from the RCMP Federal Drug
Enforcement Branch, Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit and drug
investigators from Prince George, Williams Lake, Quesnel and 100 Mile
House.

Many of the operations were clustered around Williams Lake, 100 Mile
House and Prince George, he said. Police would not disclose the
locations of all the grow operations busted.

Between May, 2009 and the formation of the task force in September,
2010 RCMP saw a 300 per cent increase in public tips and complaints
about marijuana grow operations in the Cariboo region. During the same
period, the number of police investigations into grow operations in
Prince George, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and Quesnel increased by
60 per cent.

"We have come here because the people told us to be here," McLaughlin
said.

The size and sophistication of the growing operations being busted has
also increased, he said. The average size of grow operations in the
region increased 33 per cent.

Many use high power generators or complex methods of stealing power
for grow lamps.

McLaughlin urged residents to report any suspicious activity to local
police forces or to Crime Stoppers. In Prince George call 250-561-3300
or 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) to make tips.

Some signs a house may be used as a grow op include the home having an
"unlived in" appearance, despite people coming and going to it. Heavy
condensation on the inside of windows or lack of snow on the roof,
caused by the grow lamps used by grow operations, are other possible
signs.

People fiddling with B.C. Hydro boxes, or generators running in remote
areas, can indicate gangs are stealing or generating power for grow
lamps. Remote forestry roads which are suddenly closed with barricades
can be another warning sign.

North District RCMP Chief Superintendent Barry Clark said the sheer
size and remoteness of the region makes enforcement a challenge.

"We have an area that is criss-crossed with all kinds of logging
roads. We cover 77 per cent of B.C. with 37 detachments," Clark said.

The grow operations have been linked to local, B.C. and international
gangs, he said. Partnerships, and violent rivalries, exist between the
gangs growing marijuana in the region.

"We're seeing a connection to some Asian groups," he said. "It's being
grown for export. (Much of it) is travelling south of the boarder for
cocaine and guns."

Many of the 24 people arrested were from outside the region, including
many from the Lower Mainland, Clark added.

"The people who run these have no respect for the land," he said.
"Streams are being diverted, growth-enhancing chemicals are being
dumped, garbage is strewn about."

Professor Darryl Plecas, RCMP research chairman at the University of
the Fraser Valley, said large-scale marijuana production for export
has "expanded tenfold," in the last decade.

"These grows are the single biggest reason we have organized crime in
this province," Plecas said. "It's near fair comment to say we're
Columbia north. We've moved to a situation where we're like
Columbia... like Mexico. We're a huge exporter."

The number of gangs growing and exporting marijuana to the U.S. and
importing guns and cocaine back into Canada has exploded in the last
decade, Plecas said. The United Nations has cited Canada as a source
country for marijuana.

The increasing number of gangs results in increased risk of violence
like the gang wars seen in Mexico, he added. If grow operations in the
Cariboo aren't dealt with quickly, the region could become ground zero
of deadly inter-gang conflict.

"The number (police) get relative to the number out there are small,"
he said. "Police in the Lower Mainland have had a great deal of
success in curbing crime... We just need to do this in a much bigger
and more sustained way. The police are grossly under resourced for
what's coming up today."

A typical grow operation like the ones busted by police since
September could generate $1 million or more in tax-free income for the
gangs operating them, Plecas said. A study of the average penalties
facing people involved in grow operations was fines in the $1,000 to
$2,000 range and three to four months in jail.

"We as researchers have been pointing out the need to increase the
consequences," Plecas said. "Jail isn't a great thing. But there are
some people who need to go to jail, and go to jail for a significant
period of time."