POT FARMS TIED TO ASIAN RING?

8 Nabbed In Maples Raids May Face Anti-Gang Counts

CITY police believe they've identified as least eight people who may be
connected to an Asian-based crime ring that specializes in growing
hydroponic marijuana.

The eight men and women were arrested this week when police found four
hydroponic grow operations in homes in the Maples area of the city.

Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Bob Johnson said investigators are now
examining whether the eight suspects can be charged under Ottawa's
anti-gang law, which makes it illegal to belong to a criminal organization.

Meanwhile, the eight accused have been charged with producing marijuana for
the purpose of trafficking.

The police raids at the four homes were sparked Tuesday when officers in
the northwest part of the city received information about one of the homes
- -- a one-storey house on Citadel Crescent.

Johnson said that in the hours afterwards, investigators with the drug and
organized crime units gained information about the other three homes,
raiding the last one late yesterday. Police say the homes are on Kowall
Bay, Mannerly Way and Malden Close.

The raids netted police 1,427 marijuana plants and almost 13 kilos of
packaged pot ready for distribution and sale.

Police say the street value of the seized pot is more than $2 million.
Officers also seized $100,000 in cash.

In each case, the hydro meter had been bypassed so that electricity used to
power the artificial lighting, watering systems and fans didn't register.

As of yesterday, police have shut down 27 indoor hydroponic marijuana
gardens in Winnipeg since. Jan. 1. It's believed officers found the 28th
grow house in Winnipeg yesterday. Last year, police found 108. The
marijuana seized so far this year had a street value of about $7 million.

In 2002, officers seized 6,999 marijuana plants with an estimated street
value of more than $11 million. In 2001, officers found 3,856 plants and in
2000, they found 2,864. Police have said organized crime, including the
Hells Angels, has moved into the lucrative marijuana business because the
risk of getting caught and going to jail is so low in Canada. Most
convicts, when it's their first offence, are handed conditional sentences
or fines.

Police hope Ottawa's new pot bill, which decriminalizes possession of 15
grams or less of marijuana, will force crime groups and large grow
operations to go out of business.

Under the bill, anyone caught with four to 25 plants would face a maximum
fine of $25,000 and up to 18 months in jail as a summary-conviction
offender. Police would have the discretion to make it an indictable
offence, drawing a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

A grower caught with 26 to 50 plants would face up to 10 years behind bars.

Bigger growers could get bigger prison time: The proposed maximum penalty
would double to 14 years for possession of more than 50 marijuana plants.

Johnson said the eight suspects, between the ages of 18 and 42, were mostly
residents of the four locations.

He said investigators believe they know one another and were in the
business of growing and selling pot.

Johnson said he could not comment on where the pot was destined to go, as
the suspects have not co-operated with police. Police have said in the past
that some of the hydroponic pot grown in the city ends up in Minneapolis, Minn.

Winnipeg police have been hesitant to publicly identify Asian-based crime
groups as behind a large number of the city's indoor grow operations
uncovered in the past year. However, they changed their stance yesterday,
given the recent case and because officers have made so many seizures in
the past month.

Johnson said police agencies, particularly the RCMP and the Criminal
Intelligence Service of Alberta, have already identified Asian-based
organized crime as a major threat to public safety.

Police in Winnipeg say they have focused efforts on these grow operations
- -- and who's running them -- because of the potential danger to innocent
people. Because most are badly wired, there is a risk of fire or
electrocution. Young criminals also target grow operations for home
invasions so they can steal the marijuana. Some of these criminals target
the wrong house and terrorize innocent families.

Police say members of Asian-based crime groups prefer to buy or rent homes
in quiet residential areas, which they turn into lucrative grow operations.

Often, the grow trays and artificial lighting are set up in spacious,
unfinished insulated basements. The lighting and watering systems are
powered by stolen electricity.

Typically, the people tending these marijuana farms are young or
middle-aged couples. They also tend to be caretakers and do not live at the
homes. Most do not have criminal records.

Johnson added Winnipeg is not the only Canadian city with these indoor
marijuana farms. Similar grow operations are being found across Canada
almost daily.