POLICE DESTROY 800 POT PLANTS FROM SIX AREAS

ST. STEPHEN - Another 800 marijuana plants, or 400,000 potential
joints, were destroyed on Thursday as the RCMP continued Operation
Sabot.

Sgt. Greg MacAvoy of the RCMP said there were about six rural areas
targeted by officers Thursday, including Oak Haven and Rollingdam.

"Nothing too close to town today," MacAvoy said, referring to St.
Stephen. "They were the more out-of-the-way areas."

MacAvoy said RCMP flew by helicopter Thursday over areas it suspected
would have marijuana plants.

There were no arrests made. The police are continuing their
investigation.

At the end of August, the Mounties seized 3,480 marijuana plants -
enough for 1.7 million joints in the Charlotte County area.

"We had several sites we wanted to check and were able to get to them
a few weeks back and today we had the opportunity to go and check a
few more and we had further success," said MacAvoy.

MacAvoy, who has been an officer in the area for about 12 years, said
this is the largest number of plants that have been recovered in one
summer for as long as he has been here.

He said the success is due to increased public co-operation and hard
work from the officers.

"We have seen an increase this year and hopefully that continues and
hopefully our success will lead to more success," said MacAvoy.

"We'd like to think we made significant impact. There are others we
didn't find or know about and once we find them, we will know we
missed them."

MacAvoy said harvest season is wrapping up as the nights get colder
but there are still a few more spots in Charlotte County the RCMPs
plan to check before the season ends.

He said the police ruined all the marijuana with salt and lime before
it was buried in the ground. The RCMP used to burn the drugs but found
it created too much of a negative impact on the environment.

MacAvoy said more plants will be found before the snow flies and
during the winter and spring RCMP will be gathering information and
getting ready to do it all again next summer.