ORGANIZED CRIME LOOKS TO POT FARMS FOR INCOME

Local News - At the very end of the gravel road that is Henderson Line
is an old two-storey farmhouse surrounded on three sides by fields of
tall grass and clumps of trees.

The house looks deserted but while no one is home, the large German
shepherd's throaty barks break the illusion that the farm has been
abandoned. The large pen the young dog paces around between barks sits
beside the house, a yellow water bowl and metal food dish sitting to
one side.

As one draws near the house or the two metal-sided garages -- both
obviously erected decades after the house was built -- the dog roars
its disapproval.

Peeking through the house's windows, one sees a spartan living
arrangement. In the white kitchen a few chairs lie scattered around a
table upon which sits an empty ashtray. A calendar with the picture of
a monkey and Oriental writing is the only decoration.

In the white living room, a couch and some chairs face a flat-screen
television and a DVD player. A clock is the only thing on the wall and
a teddy bear has been placed in a corner.

Peering through the windows in the front doors, one sees a staircase
leading to the second floor. To one side, on the main floor, is a
shrine. A red light is on, illuminating more Oriental writing. Some
fruit and candles rest on the floor.

Behind the house is one of the garages, inside of which gas canisters,
large black plastic bags and a purple pickup truck can be seen. An
abandoned tractor, once used to plow the fields, rusts nearby.

Behind the house and the garage is a field that was presumably once
used to grow traditional crops but more recently, up until last week,
was used to grow Canada's second most popular agricultural export:
marijuana.

Police say this farm, operated by an East Asian organized crime group,
is only one of many farms being used to grow the plant throughout the
county.

It is also only the latest example of a problem that has plagued many
parts of the country, a problem police say is real and dangerous
despite cries of dissension from all corners of the country.

"It's all about money," says Det. Sgt. Dean Steinke of the Kawartha
Combined Forces Drug Unit as he leans back in a chair. "People say
'It's only marijuana' but it's become a source of income for organized
crime."

On Sept. 26, 2002, the drug unit descended upon a Stewart Line farm
near Cavan and found 10,000 marijuana plants growing in the fields,
hidden from view.

For years, police had been working to curb the spread of indoor
hydroponic grow houses, which were predominantly run by Vietnamese
organized crime groups and had started to appear in British Columbia
in the 1990s before appearing in communities across the country.

Police had also taken to warning farmers to keep an eye on their
fields because entrepreneurs often stole into them in the middle of
the night and planted marijuana amongst their crops. They would later
return to harvest the illegal plant, all without the farmer's knowledge.

But Det. Const. Ernie Garbutt says the Stewart Line bust was the first
time the Kawartha Combined Forces Drug Unit had seen an organized
crime group using a local farm for the sole purpose of producing marijuana.

"The size of the grows, we'd never seen that before," Garbutt says. "
At that time, our numbers were big at 10,000 plants. Now you're
talking about grows with 30,000."

Garbutt said another big difference was the organization involved.
Typically, an individual who speaks good English is hired to lease or
buy a house. Then a recent immigrant lives there with his family and
tends the plants while keeping a low profile. A harvesting crew is
sent in a few months later to get the marijuana and prepare it for
sale and distribution, often in the barn on the property.

The entire group is operated through a hierarchy which Steinke says is
similar to that of a large, international business. At the bottom are
the workers, then the managers and supervisors and eventually you have
the leader.

While this system was perfected by Vietnamese organizations, police
have noticed a shift in recent months.

"We're getting a lot more Chinese grows," Steinke, dressed in a white
T-shirt and blue jeans, says as he sits in the drug unit's
Peterborough detachment office. "There's no rhyme or reason to it.
They are just trying to take more control."

Steinke said while violence can be a byproduct of such shifts, there
may be politics involved.

"There's usually agreements," he says. "The groups are separate but
they usually work together."

Steinke said Peterborough County is ideal for these type of operations
because of the area's size and remoteness.

"Everything north of Peterborough is bush and farm fields," he says.
"This seems to be a great area for marijuana."

Steinke's unit has dedicated the months from the start of August to
the end of October to "eradication", searching for marijuana fields
and destroying them.

So far this year, the six-member unit has destroyed 32,000 plants and
with more than a month to go, is poised to eclipse last year's total
of 54,000.

"There's never a day when there's nothing to work on," he
says.

But the tips rarely come from those few individuals arrested during a
raid. With minimal English skills and the knowledge of criminal
penalties, Steinke says most simply do their time -- if there is time
- -- and then get out to continue working.

In April, a Peterborough judge sentenced Oai Lam, 32, of Kitchener to
nine months in jail in what he described as a message that grow houses
won't be tolerated.

Police had found 680 marijuana plants inside a 16th Line bungalow in
the former Smith Township, some three or four feet tall. The hydro
metering system had been bypassed and the home was set up with an
extensive circulation and ventilation system.

Steinke said such sentences send anything but a strong
message.

"Where's the deterrent?" he asks, adding that a few months in jail is
almost no penalty when presented with the opportunity to make millions
of dollars. "There is no deterrent. There's very little risk to these
people."

He said cops are often chastised for not treating criminals tougher
but it's the judges who determine the penalties. As a result, some
workers return to the fields to continue working while they're waiting
to appear in court.

Most judges don't utilize the seven-year maximum sentence for
trafficking and producing and instead give conditional and suspended
sentences to offenders.

"It's a joke," Steinke says, adding calls for stricter sentences are
unnecessary. "We don't need stricter sentences. We just have to use
the ones that are available."

Contrary to popular belief, Steinke said the operations aren't
harmless. A large percentage of the marijuana is exported to the
United States in return for cocaine. He said a kilogram of weed can
sometimes fetch up to a pound of cocaine. That cocaine hits Canadian
streets.

"It's coming back," Steinke says. "It's on the increase."

In addition, the operations are only one way that organized crime
groups make money but it helps fund other operations such as
prostitution, car theft and gambling.

As the federal government looks at decriminalizing marijuana and
easing back on rules forbidding its usage, Steinke says the drug unit
will continue to raid farms and houses where the drug is being grown
until the laws change.

"We will meet the mandate," he says.