LARGEST DRUG SEIZURE IN ONTARIO IN BANCROFT

Police have seized more than $40 million worth of marijuana from four
grow operations in the Bancroft area in what has been called the
largest drug seizure in Ontario this year.

Residents in the Maynooth area were startled when the Ontario
Provincial Police Tactics and Rescue unit, an emergency response team,
canine unit, OPP auxiliary members and officers from the surrounding
detachments in Bancroft and Killaloe converged on the area on Sept.
24. They were conducting a raid at one of four large grow operations
in the Bancroft area that included two in the Bancroft "area," one in
Sabine Township in the Lake St. Peter area and the fourth on Highway
41 in the Denbigh Area. OPP will not confirm exact locations.

The location of the Jessup Road operation became immediately evident
when police officers and vehicles swarmed the area. One neighbour, who
asked not to be identified for his protection, says the police came to
his door at 7 p.m. in full camouflage and face make-up. He says he had
known the previous landowner of what had been a working farm but did
not know his current neighbours.

He was surprised to discover there was such a large scale grow
operation happening there and so is everyone else he has talked to --
no one seems to have suspected an illegal operation was being conducted.

He commented a friend called him at 10:30 p.m. that day because he
said he had been stopped three times by different officers as he
traversed nearby roads trying to drive home. Police were searching
cars and asking if anyone had seen a hitchhiker.

Police were successful during the four different but related raids in
apprehending wo men without incident, although one Bancroft location
was booby-trapped (police did not clarify what the traps were). Five
suspects are still being sought. Wei Quiang Lin, 35, of Oshawa and
Jiyang Feng, 42, Scarborough, are facing several drug-related charges.
They were scheduled to appear in Belleville court this week.

Police have been investigating these individuals and this large scale
operation which included a residence in Richmond Hill, for
approximately one year. The investigation and raids have resulted in
the seizure of growing equipment, $10,000 US in cash, four vehicles
and a dump truck.

These four raids follow two earlier raids by Project Longarm, the drug
enforcement division of the OPP. Police say the raid at a property on
Auto Wreckers Lane east of Bancroft produced more than $4 million in
different illegal drugs. Earlier in August, a bust at a Coe Hill
location uncovered a grow operation with approximately $2 million
worth of marijuana.

On August 22 and 23 officers from the Haliburton Highlands Detachment
and other units seized numerous marijuana crops throughout the county
that sits on Bancroft's borders. The total estimated value of those
seizures is approximately $1.9 million.

Police say that organized crime leaders based in the GTA send workers
to tend marijuana grow operations in cottage country because of its
remote and rural nature.

Unfortunately, in the last few years the individuals arrested in these
operations are predominantly Asian. The gentleman in the Maynooth area
speaking about the Jessup Road bust says he is afraid police and
citizens will begin racial profiling and hopes people will maintain
and open mind.

"All Asians are not involved in illegal grow operations. Police asking
people to keep their eyes open for Asians is a dangerous road to go
down. Especially for some of the people here who have not met other
cultures," he commented.

He says he hopes locals will not adopt the attitude that someone is
guilty until they are proven innocent when it should be the other way
around.