CITY'S BIGGEST-EVER POT BUST

10,000 plants found 2 blocks from police station

WINNIPEG police say they have uncovered the second-largest marijuana grow
operation ever found in Canada in a nondescript warehouse only two blocks
from downtown police headquarters.

Police said that in an early-morning raid yesterday, they found more than
10,000 plants worth an estimated $11 million on the street -- the biggest
operation of its kind found in the city to date.

The indoor pot factory covered two floors of a boarded-up, light brown brick
warehouse at 468 Ross Ave. The warehouse is five minutes by foot from the
Public Safety Building.

"All of them were somewhat astounded," Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Bob
Johnson said of the officers' reaction to the sight of 5,000 square feet
dedicated to hydroponic marijuana. "This gives us a perspective of how large
these operations are in our city."

In yesterday's raid police seized more marijuana than they did in 2001 and
2002 combined.

In 2001, officers found 3,856 plants. In 2000, they got 2,864.

According to a formula provided by Winnipeg police, the seized plants were
capable of producing anywhere from three to five million individual
marijuana joints.

"This has completely caught me off guard. I don't know what to say," the
building's owner, Kevin Saunders, told the Free Press yesterday. He was out
of town when reached on his cellular phone and declined to comment further
until he returns to Winnipeg today. Saunders said he has been renting the
building out but wouldn't identify the tenants or what type of business he
thought it was being used for.

The City of Winnipeg made an application earlier this year to put the
building up for a tax sale because property taxes haven't been paid since
2000, according to Manitoba Land Titles records obtained by the Free Press.

The building is still registered to a numbered company, 3857990 Manitoba
Ltd., which provincial records show was dissolved in 2000. The lone
director, Stephen Alsip, is a former Winnipeg lawyer who now lives in the
Bahamas.

The building's previous owner, Ronald Polinsky, helped Saunders out
financially by taking out an $89,000 mortgage in 1999 which Saunders has
slowly been repaying.

Polinsky said Saunders briefly used it as an upholstering shop and a
flyer-stuffing plant, but it's his understanding the building was sitting
empty in recent months.

"I got a call from Hydro, from gas, saying they were shutting off all the
power. This is just bizarre," he said.

Signs on the building listed it as Hallmark Furniture. Hallmark Furniture
went out of business several months ago, said a spokesperson who took over
Hallmark's business.

The raid brings police close to having seized almost $40 million worth of
marijuana from about 100 grow operations found in the city this year.

Last year, officers shut down roughly the same number of grows, but what's
alarming is that the operations found this year are bigger and more
elaborate, indicating growers have boosted production to meet demands from
drug markets that are mainly located in the United States, police say.
Police estimate the growers at the Ross Avenue site invested about $100,000
in growing equipment like high-intensity lights and growing trays.

If they had managed to harvest the pot, dry it, package it and ship it out
to dealers, they stood to pocket roughly $10 million.

Police also believe the grow operation was not running too long. They said
most of the plants were mature. Under the right conditions, it takes 60 to
90 days for a marijuana plant to mature to the point where it's ready to be
picked.

Johnson said the grow operation is so large it will take police at least
until tomorrow to dismantle it.

First, police identification officers, working around the clock, are
gathering what forensic evidence they can find, including fingerprints.
Second, drug unit officers have to catalogue each plant and piece of
equipment for court purposes. They will also document the grow operation
with videotape and photographs.

Johnson said once that's done, the police service will likely have to rent a
couple of trucks to haul away the marijuana and the growing equipment. The
marijuana will likely soon be destroyed at an undisclosed location.

"That's tactical information and something we won't share with the media,"
he said.

In the meantime, the warehouse remains under police guard.

Residents across the street from the building said they knew what was going
on inside because they could smell it. The odour of marijuana could be
detected outside the front of the warehouse yesterday. However, the
neighbours said they didn't call police.

Johnson said a few police officers suspected there was a marijuana grow
operation in the area weeks ago, again because of the smell.

He said investigators got other information besides their suspicions to get
a search warrant approved.

The largest indoor marijuana grow operation found in Canada was uncovered
last Jan. 10 in a former Molson brewery in Barrie, Ont., visible from
Highway 400 an hour's drive north of Toronto.

Inside, police seized marijuana worth an estimated $30 million in street
value.

Throughout the 5,400-square-metre complex, police found more than 25,000 pot
plants growing everywhere, even inside the cavernous indoor vats once used
to brew beer.

Last Feb. 12, Edmonton police found about 5,600 marijuana plants in a
warehouse, making it the biggest pot bust in that city's history. The street
value of the pot was estimated to be $5.6 million. The warehouse was
masquerading as a cabinet-making business.

Yesterday's massive seizure came as Paul Martin's Liberals consider
decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana.

Bill C-17 proposes possession of one to three plants would be punishable by
fines of $500 for adults and $250 for people under 17 years old. Possession
of 15 grams or less of marijuana under the new bill would be like a
ticketing offence, carrying fines of $100 to $400.

Larger penalties would be aimed at large growers. Anyone caught with four to
25 plants would face a maximum fine of $25,000 and up to 18 months in jail
as a summary offence.

Police would also have the discretion to make it an indictable offence,
taking the maximum sentence to five years in prison.

Someone caught with 26 to 50 plants would face up to 10 years in prison. The
proposed maximum penalty would be14 years for possession of more than 50
marijuana plants.

Pot by the numbers

* So far in 2004 police have shut down almost 100 large-scale marijuana grow
operations. Yesterday's early morning raid at a Ross Avenue warehouse netted
police 10,000 plants. The total street value of marijuana seized from all
raids this year is about $40 million.

* In 2003, police found 108 grow operations. (Police have never released a
total dollar amount for the year's seizures). * In 2002, police found 82
grow operations, with a total of 6,999 marijuana plants. The total street
value of the seizures was $11,641,254.

* In 2001, officers found 3,856 plants

* In 2000, they found 2,864.

* One mature marijuana plant, depending on the quality, can yield anywhere
up to 150 grams of smokeable marijuana, according to police and Internet
resources.

* It takes about 90 days for a single plant to mature under optimum growing
conditions.

* Again, depending on quality, a single marijuana plant can earn a grower
about $1,100, according to city police.

* One gram of marijuana equals three joints. A gram of pot sells for $10 on
Winnipeg streets, according to police.

* A half-pound bag of pot sells for about $2,000 or more. One quarter ounce
of pot -- roughly eight grams -- sells for about $75.