COPS RAID LOCAL GROW-OPS

Neighbours watched anxiously as police barged into a Park Street
residence yesterday morning, exposing a marijuana grow operation in a
normally quiet neighbourhood.

"We've been wondering what's been going on there. It didn't look like
the house was being lived in at all," said an area resident, Peter
Hoare.

Ten officers arrived before 11 a.m.

Drawing their guns, they announced their presence before executing a
search warrant, seizing more than $60,000 worth of marijuana and
growing equipment.

The Park Street bust was just one of three simultaneous raids carried
out by the Huronia Combined Forces Drug Unit, OPP drug enforcement
unit, Mnjikaning and Orillia officers and the canine unit.

Police teams also entered homes on Grenville Avenue and Kevin
Court.

A total of $1.8 million worth of marijuana and $79,500 in equipment
was confiscated.

There were 892 marijuana plants and $25,000 worth of equipment at the
Grenville residence.

In the Kevin Court house, police found 902 plants and $53,000 worth of
equipment.

Back at Park Street, officers hauled out a dehumidifier and put it in
a rental truck that was parked on the street in front of the
two-storey house.

"Because of the moisture levels from watering the plants, a
dehumidifier is used to take that out," said Orillia OPP media
relations officer Const. Sean McTeague.

Orillia Power Corporation workers were also on the scene. McTeague
said they shut off the power while officers dismantled the grow operation.

"Quite often these individuals will wire their own grow operation
effects, like lighting and power, so it's not up to code. It's an
officer safety issue," said McTeague.

Neighbours said the house was sold last spring.

In the driveway, a silver Dodge Caravan sat parked half buried in a
metre of snow.

Hoare said the van has been there for months and only once has he seen
someone shovel the driveway.

On Feb. 2, after the snow was cleared, Hoare noticed movement around
the house so he called the OPP.

"I wondered about it. I was a little suspicious about something going
on in there. It just didn't look right," he said.

"When we walk by every day and don't see any footprints anywhere, you
start to wonder," said Marg Craw, another neighbour, adding she walks
her dogs twice a day.

Her husband, Bob, said he wasn't surprised the police discovered
illegal activity in the house.

"I was suspicious right from the beginning," he said. "Everyone's
aware of grow-ops and that they are found in areas we least expect."

Police have not located any suspects. All three cases are under
investigation.

Anyone with information about suspicious activity is asked to call
Orillia OPP at 326-3536 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.