POT PLANTS WILL BE BURIED OR BURNED, SAY POLICE

Investigators Keeping Mum On Possible Suspects

WAINFLEET - Thousands of marijuana plants being harvested by police after
an illegal Wainfleet grow-op was exposed by firefighters Tuesday could
literally be going up in smoke.

And an unknown thousands of dollars worth of growing lights and other
equipment used in the production of the greenhouse crop worth more than $6
million is also to be destroyed, said Constable Sal Basilone, of the
Niagara Regional Police media relations unit.

Basilone said the marijuana will either be incinerated or buried. Morality
unit officers in charge of disposal were expected to start removing the
plants from greenhouses late Wednesday and into today.

"That's a fairly significant operation. You can't just put it all into a
cube van," Basilone said.

Earlier in the day, forensics officers continued to assess the operation at
53634 Highway 3 which consumed about two-thirds of some 14 long, connected
greenhouse units.

While evidence collection included taking photographs, Basilone said a
small sample of plants will be kept for laboratory analysis.

The marijuana grow was in various stages of producing between 6,000 and
7,000 plants, a figure Basilone has revised upward each by a thousand since
speaking to The Tribune Tuesday night.

Although he had also put the street value of the marijuana between $5
million and $6 million, a more accurate dollar figure, and the exact number
of plants, will be made public today.

Grow lights, ballasts, water pumps, cooling fans, diesel generators and a
watering system used for the pot production is likely all to be destroyed.
Because of the age of the equipment and risks associated with possible
modification, Basilone suggested it could not be auctioned. A value
estimate was not available Wednesday.

After obtaining a search warrant Tuesday, officers also entered the
property's two-storey farmhouse but did not find any more plants, Basilone
said.

He said it appears there was a "change of events" at the greenhouse farm
late last year, which suggests the marijuana grow-op hadn't been in
existence long. He said it's believed the residence had been rented since
November of 2004. Police are trying to locate the tenants.

No one has yet been charged and Basilone said investigating officers are
still not releasing details on possible suspects.

Basilone also couldn't indicate whether the operation at the former MJK
Greenhouses farm, some 6.5 kilometres west of Chambers Corners near Sider
Road, was acting independently or as part of a larger crime syndicate.

If the grow-op is part of an organized group, Basilone said releasing that
kind of information could force other suspects "to go underground."

Police were tipped to Niagara's largest pot-growing operation in years
after firefighters made the discovery when responding Tuesday to a 2:14
a.m. fire.

Left at the scene were a spent fire extinguisher, running garden hose and a
single set of tire tracks in snow, indicating those involved in the
criminal activity had been on scene not long before firefighters' arrival.

The fire, reported by a passing truck driver, was said to have been sparked
by an electrical short in one of two diesel-powered generators kept in an
insulated room to keep noise muffled from rural neighbours.