GROW-OP DOESN'T SURPRISE NEIGHBOURS

The owners have a business licence for a towing company, but their
three-storey warehouse tucked along a notorious strip of Triumph Street is
now infamous for growing marijuana-lots of it.

Last Wednesday, police discovered 3,500 plants inside the building at 1826
Triumph St., making it the largest seizure in Vancouver police history. The
estimated street value of the bud is more than $2.4 million.

So far, investigators haven't made any arrests, and they're not commenting
on whether the owners are suspects or were simply duped by tenants. The
building was unoccupied during the raid.

Hanuman and Cora Prasad are listed as owners of the property, which they
purchased for $32,000 cash in 1977, according to the B.C. Assessment
Authority. The couple's 2004 assessment lists the total value of the
property at $150,500-$67,000 for the land and $83,500 for improvements.
Their business licence is registered to Night and Day Towing and Wrecking Ltd.

The Prasads, who live in Delta, couldn't be reached for comment. A visit to
the warehouse by the Courier on Monday revealed squatters living in an
abandoned van parked in the warehouse's loading bay.

Several street kids were also hanging out in front of the warehouse, some
sucking on crack pipes. One male offered to break into the building for the
Courier, in return for $100.

Located in a short block between the north end of Victoria Drive and
Salsbury Drive, the warehouse is not the first building on the strip to be
used for growing marijuana, according to business owners.

Norman Joe, owner of Ryden Automotive two doors east of the warehouse,
points to a boarded-up house across the street from the warehouse, where he
said police busted a grow-op six months ago.

Drugs, prostitutes and break-ins are nothing new to the strip, but Joe
notes that a police crackdown on drug dealers in the Downtown Eastside has
increased drug activity outside his shop.

"Almost every morning, I have to sweep up needles and other garbage in
front of my place," said Joe, standing in his shop's driveway. "It's not
really surprising they found all those plants."

Joe's neighbour, Ken Chan, who owns Qualitek Collision Ltd., started his
Monday by discovering two cars parked outside his shop had been broken
into, and their stereos stolen.

"Everybody has the same story around here about crime, and mine isn't much
different than a lot of people who work down here," Chan said. "You never
run out of subjects to talk about-you could write a book about this
neighbourhood."

Police were led to the grow-op Wednesday after B.C. Hydro passed on its
suspicions that the warehouse was using electricity that was bypassing the
meter.

Inside, a team of police, firefighters, City of Vancouver inspectors and
B.C. Hydro investigators discovered an elaborate operation spread over two
floors. The seizure of the 3,500 plants is significant when compared the
drug squad's average of 175 to 200 plants per raid.

Though police have busted operations in other warehouses in the city, most
of the plants are discovered in houses.