4 GROW OPS: $2M

Cops Suspect Asian Gangs After Raids In Northwest

Officers seized more than $2 million worth of weed this week after
shutting down four elaborate grow operations believed to be connected
to, and run by, Asian gangs. Earlier in the week, police discovered a
home in the 1200-block of Leila Avenue that had been completely
converted into a grow operation. A 30-year-old woman was arrested
Thursday in connection with the bust.

Const. Shelly Glover said the drug unit received further information
and raided three other homes -- two on Shalimar Crescent in the
affluent north Winnipeg neighbourhood of Riverbend and another on
Stardust Crescent in The Maples -- early yesterday.

Riverbend resident Len McDonald suspected something was amiss Thursday
when he saw police cars cruising the area.

"I do talk to all my neighbours but I guess you don't know what
they're up to until police show up," he said.

ONLY FIVE HOUSES AWAY

Police had the house at 52 Shalimar Cres. surrounded when he returned
home from work after midnight, he said. Seized in the raid were 230
plants and 150 clones with an estimated street value of $426,000.

The house, which neighbours say was sold about two months ago, is only
five away from another dwelling where a grow operation caught fire in
December 2002.

Both are within five blocks of 160 Glencairn Cres., which was raided
in March.

Just blocks away near Ecole Riverbend Community School, vice officers
raided 133 Spruce Thicket Walk in March, seizing marijuana plants and
growing equipment.

"Whoever is moving in, we'll be watching very closely. I'll be more
suspicious," said area resident Vicky Schulz, who lives with her
husband and three children next door to one of the grow-ops.

Residents of the house were Asian and kept to themselves, Schulz said.
They were very careful to hide what they were moving in to the home.

"Who goes to the trouble of staking up furniture and plywood on the
garage so no one could see what was happening when they were moving
in?" she said.

Other activities were suspicious too, said Schulz.

The new residents installed an extra vent on the roof and never opened
their blinds, she said.

"It was quiet all day then the driveway would fill up at 10 or 11 at
night," she said. "Different people always coming and going."

The residents refused to answer the door when her husband tried to
tell them he was planning to paint a section of a shared fence, she
said.

Yesterday, the neighbourhood was quiet. Evidence of the activity the
night before was not evident, save for scuff marks on the front door
of the grow house caused by police kicking open the door, neighbours
said.