POLICE SMOKE OUT POT CROPS

Major pot busts in Eastern Ontario and west Quebec this week have netted
harvest-ready dope with an estimated street value of $9 million. Provincial
police scored the region's largest haul of the year Monday, seizing more
than 6,000 pot plants from a field near Alexandria.

And yesterday, police in West Quebec announced they had seized more than
3,000 plants during a two-day drug sweep of the Outaouais.

The Eastern Ontario crop was discovered by OPP drug officers on private
property near Brodie Rd. in North Glengarry.

"It was scattered around an open field area," Ottawa OPP drug unit Sgt.
Paul Henry said yesterday. "It was well-maintained and well-hidden."

He said the elaborate operation included generators and water pumps. While
no arrests have been made, Henry said police have identified one "person of
interest."

He said the crop was the largest the Ottawa OPP drug unit has seized this
year and its size isn't typical of most grow operations that police encounter.

"This is certainly way above average," he said, adding police discovered
the grow op based on a tip.

3,000 PLANTS

News of the OPP bust came on the same day that police in Chelsea announced
they had seized more than 3,000 plants with an estimated street value of
about $3 million during a two-day sweep in the Outaouais.

With the help of a Canadian Forces helicopter, the MRC des Collines police
arrested two men and seized pot plants from seven locations between the
Pontiac and Val-des-Monts.

Police yesterday showed off six stacks of marijuana plants, some as tall as
five feet, in the parking lot of their La Peche headquarters.

Police said one of the grow operations was in Gatineau Park near Le Blanc
Rd. and Camp Gatineau. Police seized about 300 plants after receiving a tip
from an NCC conservation officer. Two weeks ago, police seized about 70
plants from a location in the park near Chelsea Creek.

Const. Martin Fournel said drug officers identified 20 potential growing
sites but only found seven grow operations.

Police used the military helicopter to help pinpoint the locations before
tactical officers secured the area.

In some of the more remote sites, police used a basket hanging from the
helicopter to remove plants.

A 30-year-old La Peche man was arrested on Monday after trying to run from
police while a 46-year-old Gatineau man was arrested Tuesday. Both are now
facing charges.