BUSTED, AGAIN

A "grow show" house recently raided by the RCMP will be closed to occupancy
until it passes city inspections, Courtenay staff announced this week.

Police raided the house on March 3, confiscated more than 500 marijuana
plants and arrested two men, RCMP Const. Dean Maxwell said.

The same house was shut down in August, 2003 after a police raid yielded a
similar quantity of marijuana.

The property belonged to the same owners when both searches were executed,
according to the city.

The property is registered to Anh Tu and Phuong Dinh Oan of Sidney, B.C.
and Trung Vua Oan, who apparently lived at the 10th St. address.

The Sidney owners list their occupation as "fisherman" and Trung Vua Oan
describes himself as a "student" in documents filed with the land title
office. The province values the property at $218,000.

Police planned to charge a man arrested at the scene with possession for
the purpose of trafficking and production of a controlled substance, but
did not release the name of the accused at press time.

The 10th Street East address is one of 16 houses shut down by the city
under provisions of a bylaw was passed in September, 2003 enabling the city
to lift occupancy permits on houses used for marijuana grow operations.

Prior to adoption of the bylaw, the Crown could charge people arrested
during police raids, but owners of buildings were generally immune because
they could claim they didn't know about activities in their buildings.

However, under the current bylaw, ignorance is not a defence and property
owners can be fined and billed for costs of police raids.