QUEBEC COPS DIG UP UNDERGROUND MARIJUANA FARM

Talk about a marijuana subculture. MRC des Collines police raided a cabin
in a wooded area in Thorne Twp. near Shawville yesterday and found a 3,000
sq.-ft. subterranean grow-op. "Police obtained a search warrant and
executed a search at a cabin on Schwartz Rd.," said Const. Marc Ippersiel
of the Surrete du Quebec.

Acting on a phone tip to Crime Stoppers, police were able to locate an
underground bunker concealing some 3,000 pot plants.

Ippersiel estimated the value of the plants seized in the bust to be
between $6 million and $7 million.

A 49-year-old man who was working at the site was also arrested yesterday,
although at press time last night no charges had been laid. Ippersiel said
the investigation into the operation was in the early stages.

He also said police had been given a tip four or five years earlier about
an underground grow-op in the area, but had not been able to locate it.

"We believe it is related to organized crime," he said, adding that it may
well have been operating for several years.