LOCAL MAN CHARGED IN GROW-RIP KILLING

Two suspects who allegedly killed a Surrey man during an apparent marijuana
grow operation "rip" in Coquitlam last year made their first court
appearance Thursday after being arrested this week.

Manh Tuan Doan, 22, of Maple Ridge, and Huy Quoc Do, 49, of Vancouver, are
each charged with the manslaughter and kidnapping of Tuong (Tommy) Buu Vo
on Nov. 18, 2003.

Vo's body was found by an area resident in a house in the 1500-block of
Manzanita Court on Westwood Plateau, Coquitlam. Two nearby homes, on
Erskine Street and Salal Crescent, also were being investigated at the time
of the homicide.

"There were indications of grow-ops in a couple of those locations and
evidence leads us to believe that this was, in fact, the result of a
grow-operation rip-off that went wrong," said Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Jane
Baptista during a news conference in August to appeal for the public's
help. Tuesday, Baptista said killing "was most likely not a random thing,"
she said, adding Vo was known to police.

His cause of death has not being released, however, it may have been
connected to organized crime, according to Coquitlam RCMP. The arrests of
Doan and Do come after a 13-month long investigation by the RCMP's
Integrated Homicide Investigative Team and the Coquitlam RCMP's Major Crime
Unit.