GROW OP BUSTED

For the third time in a month, the Ontario Provincial Police has confiscated
thousands of marijuana plants from an outdoor grow operation.

Members of the Cochrane Detachment of the OPP and members of Project
Northern Gateway -- an OPP drug enforcement section initiative -- seized
3,300 plants bearing an estimated street value of about $3.3 million
Wednesday.

The plants were seized from an outdoor grow operation in Lamarche Township,
about eight kilometres south of the Town of Cochrane.

No one has been charged in connection with this discovery although the
investigation is continuing.

The seizure comes less than two weeks after the OPP seized an estimated $20
million worth of marijuana plants from an outdoor grow operation in Hislop
Township, just outside of Matheson.

More than 18,000 plants in various stages of growth were seized at the time.

Two Toronto men were arrested.

On July 25, 21,000 plants -- the largest seizure ever in Ontario, were
seized in an outdoor gown in Iroquois Falls.

The plants, which had a potential street value of about $21 million,
stretched the equivalent of three football fields were at various stages of
growth, ranging from eight to 24 inches in height.

A Scarborough man was arrested as a result of the raid.

In June, Project Northern Gateway seized more than 15,000 marijuana plants
in Moonbeam.

The plants, taken in their infancy, could have been worth up to $15 million
once they matured.

In May, police seized more than $4.5 million worth of marijuana plants and
charges in Kirkland Lake.

The discoveries are a sign that Canada's booming pot-growing business is
expanding both in size and location, experts say.