RCMP CRACKS DOWN ON POT

Salt Spring RCMP officers located and destroyed 561 marijuana plants
as part of a major drug-finding mission conducted in August.

Police seized plants from 25 sites across the island and have charged
five individuals with producing marijuana.

Other individuals involved were "warned about the legal consequences
of being charged if they were found growing marijuana again,"
according to a news release from the Salt Spring RCMP detachment.

Those charged are scheduled to appear in Ganges Provincial Court next
month.

Each plant can produce an estimated $1,000 worth of marijuana,
according to local Sgt. Danny Willis.

"Of course, that varies depending on the quality of the grower,"
Willis said during Tuesday.

The largest seizure, conducted at any one site, he added, was 54
plants. Willis said the seizures are part of the RCMP's Operation
SABOT, a Vancouver Island-wide initiative to identify and eliminate
outdoor marijuana sites on private and Crown land.

Potential grow sites are located through the use helicopter
surveillance and satellite imagery.

A joint RCMP-Canadian Navy exercise employing three Sea King
helicopters on Vancouver Island has discovered more than 16,500 plants
over the past month.

Once discovered, Willis said, plants are chopped down, removed from
the scene and incinerated.

This is the second year officers from Salt Spring Island have taken
part in the operation.

"We had a lot more sites and many more addresses this time around,"
Willis said.