GROW-OP HOUSE SEIZED, SOLD

Power Theft Leads to Arrest; Balance of $833,000 Home Goes To
Feds

A Richmond home used in a marijuana grow operation has been seized and
sold, said Richmond RCMP.

Police executed a search warrant against a home in the 12000-block
Mellis Drive in March 2008, after receiving a report of the theft of
electricity and after an officer, who went to check out the property,
noticed the strong odour of growing marijuana emanating from the home.

"The warrant uncovered a sophisticated grow operation with over 800
plants at different stages of growth," said Richmond RCMP spokeswoman
Cpl. Sherrdean Turley on Tuesday.

The grow op was dismantled, and the tenant, Tac Khac Le, 49, of
Vancouver was arrested.

He was convicted in September 2011 of marijuana cultivation,
possession for the purpose of trafficking and theft of electricity,
and was sentenced to two years less a day for each count.

A few days after the grow-op was discovered, police searched a
"related property" in the 700-block 50th Avenue in Vancouver and found
grow equipment, cash and documents linked to the Richmond home.

A "restraint and management order" was placed against the Mellis Drive
home in April 2008, said Turley. The home was sold in February 2011
for $833,000, according to property records.

According to court documents, the listed owner of the property, Dinh
Ha Vu, had defaulted under the mort-gage.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered the sale of the home in November
2009, with any balance to be paid out to the Seized Property
Management Directorate of Public Works and Government Services Canada.

The federal office manages assets seized under sections of the
Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

In 2008-09 it seized $87-million worth of assets used to commit a
crime or acquired as proceeds of a crime.