'A GROWING CONCERN'

Peace Country proving to be fertile ground for marijuana production
operations

A string of police raids that shut down three marijuana grow-ops and
uncovered over $5 million in pot last week could be just the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to marijuana cultivation in the Peace Country, say
Mounties.

A combined RCMP-Edmonton Police Services marijuana team executed search
warrants on three different sites located in the Peace Country last week,
seizing more than 5,000 plants, said Cpl. Wayne Oakes of RCMP K-Division
headquarters in Edmonton.

That amount of weed is surprising, said Oakes, especially considering it
only took officers one week of investigation to uncover all of the
operations.

"It's fairly significant results for just a week-long operation. It's an old
cliche, but (marijuana grow-ops) are a growing concern up there," he said.
"And it could mean there is a lot more out there."

Growers are setting up their weed farms on rural properties in the Peace
Country in an attempt to avoid the police, said Oakes.

Officers in rural RCMP detachments are often spread thinly over a large
area, and may be less likely to detect a hidden grow-op.

"Some people believe out of sight, out of mind. They think that out in the
rural area they police are busy and they can get away with it. And to some
extent that does occur."

The largest of the three grow-ops was raided Wednesday by Mounties and EPS
cops. They seized close to 4,000 live plants and 14 kilograms of dried
marijuana from two greenhouses and a cabin just southeast of Rycroft.

Spirit River RCMP pegged the value of the marijuana at about $2.3 million,
though Oakes said that's a "extremely conservative" estimate. Three people
were arrested are facing drug cultivation and possession charges.

Oakes refused to say where the other two operations shut down last week were
located. Police are still investigating those grow-ops, he said, and have
yet to lay any charges.

Tips from the public played a major role in last week's arrests, Oakes
added. Police are encouraging rural residents to continue funnelling
information about any suspicious activity to the police.

A strong, "skunk" smell, an unusually high traffic, or conspicuous amounts
of fertilizer and water could all be indicators of an illegal cash crop, he
said.

"The information has to come from somewhere. And often it's from the
public."