POLICE DISCOVER METH FACTORY HIDDEN AT USED CAR LOT

Local News - Kingston Police stumbled onto what they call a massive
methamphetamine factory hidden behind false walls while hunting for a
marijuana grow operation at a used car lot.

Police officers executing a search warrant Saturday at 38 Auto, on Highway
38, found two laboratories used to make the narcotic also known as speed,
Staff Sgt. Chris Scott said yesterday.

A number of stolen goods, including a laptop computer from Queen's
University and a gun, were also found at the scene, he said.

"This is definitely one of the largest drug and traffic crimes we've had
under one premise," Scott told reporters in a scrum in front of the property.

Kingston Police found the two speed labs after a lengthy investigation
initiated by a tip from a member of the public. Their investigation brought
them to 38 Auto, a two-storey, yellow building on a rural section of
Highway 38 surrounded by a jumble of old cars, trucks, vans and campers
behind a high, chain-link fence.

Upon entering the backyard, Scott said investigators found a 3,000-bush
marijuana grow-op concealed in pockets of the yard.

Inside the building, police found the stolen laptop from Queen's and one
astute officer noticed that the rooms of the building didn't match the
building's design.

After moving some objects around, police found the hidden labs.

One was behind a book case.

"Of the two labs we found, one was recently used; with the other, it's hard
to say how long ago it was used," Scott said.

The car dealership is a longstanding family-owned business. Scott wouldn't
say if the other, illicit activities are also family-run.

"It seems to have been a front," he said.

"It's been here for a number of years. How much business they did as far as
car sales, I don't know," he added.

Scott wouldn't release the name of the property owner until more of the
investigation is completed.

A provincial auto theft team is checking out the many vehicles in the yard
to see if they were stolen.

One man was charged at the time of Saturday's search in relation to the
grow operation while two others were identified and released.

Scott said police are waiting until the end of their investigation before
laying any more charges.

"Everybody who's had regular access to this property is being
investigated," he said.

When Scott spoke to reporters yesterday afternoon, officers from the OPP
clandestine laboratory team, clad head to toe in white hazardous materials
suits, were entering 38 Auto.

Police hadn't conducted an extensive search of the site because of the
dangerous chemicals -- ammonia, sulphur and acids -- used to make speed.

These chemicals often aren't stored or labeled properly and their labs tend
to be poorly ventilated. Breathing the fumes could be hazardous or the
fumes could cause a fire or explosion, Scott said.

All police officers, except for the OPP clandestine laboratory team, had
been evacuated from the building and the surrounding yard, which police had
labelled the hot and warm zones.

Two water tankers were in the yard outside the fence. Scott said they were
used to create decontamination baths. If investigators were exposed to any
harmful chemicals they could be dunked in the baths behind the building.

Marijuana grow-op busts are fairly regular in Kingston but speed lab
discoveries are rare, said Scott.

Just over two weeks ago, on Aug. 21, Kingston Police and the OPP found the
largest marijuana-growing operation in the city's history -- more than
15,000 plants with a potential street value of $15 million -- hidden in
dense bush off Horning Road, on the city's northern boundary.

By yesterday, police had packed the 3,000 marijuana plants found in 38

Auto's back yard into a U-Haul truck parked on the shoulder next to the
business's driveway.

With an average value of $1,000 per plant, Scott said the haul had a
potential total street value of $3 million.

Scott emphasized that a tip from a member of the community led police to
the operation at 38 Auto and he urged others to come forward if they see
suspicious movements at their neighbours' properties, or if they know
people who are using drugs.

"We're getting into harvesting time for the marijuana, so certainly we're
interested in any strange comings and goings on other properties," he said,
adding that growers often use the marijuana sales to fund other illegal
activities.

While much of the marijuana grown in Canada is sold in the U.S., he said
the speed grown in the Kingston area would probably go to Kingston.

"A lot of it does hit the streets in Kingston and that certainly has a
whole myriad of problems because when people get hooked on speed they turn
to property crime."

- -- With files from Sharon Ho