POT GROWERS SUSPECTED OF STEALING FURNACES

CALGARY (CP) -- A growing number of illegal drug operations in Calgary are
using furnaces stolen from homes under construction, police say.

Most of the stolen furnaces are being installed in homes being renovated,
but police believe a percentage of them are finding their way into the
city's burgeoning home-based drug industry.

"We think burner units from some of these furnaces are being used to cook
methamphetamines," Staff Sgt. Gord Sands said after the announcement of a
new police-industry initiative to reduce theft from construction sites.

Marijuana grow ops are using the furnaces as a source of additional heat to
stimulate plant production.

Between November 2003 and the end of February, more than 40 furnaces were
stolen from homes under construction in Calgary.

"In the first three months of this year, furnace thefts have already
reached 50 per cent of last year's total," Sands said. For the comparable
period, police seized an estimated $26 million worth of marijuana -- half
of what was taken in all of 2003 when more than 100 homes were raided.

Furnaces are just one target for thieves hitting construction sites. For
much of this year, police have dealt with at least one theft from a jobsite
a day.

Thieves take everything from refrigerators and dishwashers to stoves and
washer-and-dryer units. Many items are stolen from sites before they are
even removed from their boxes.