DRUG UNIT RACKS UP BIG NUMBERS

Local News - The Kawartha Combined Forces Drug Unit are well under way with
their annual drug eradication operation in Northumberland, as well as
Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes.

In the last three weeks, the unit has seized 40,000 marijuana plants worth a
total of $40 million.

The Drug Unit consists of members from the Ontario Provincial Police,
Peterborough and Lakefield Community Police and the Cobourg Police Service.
The unit also has the services of a helicopter.

"In Northumberland alone we seized approximately 2,000 plants between a
number of the municipalities, totaling $2 million," said Cobourg Police Det.
Const. Scott Bambridge of the Combined Forces Drug Unit.

"This is the prime time of the year for harvesting marijuana. Marijuana has
a certain growth cycle and they tend to want to grow to its maximum yield,"
he said.

The seized plants are an average of five or six feet tall, but some are nine
feet.

With marijuana needing a consistent supply of water and sun, police have
areas they concentrate on.

"Marijuana grows tend to be found in corn fields, along swamps, small creeks
or river beds along the west side and in wooded areas with the top of the
canopy cut out," Const. Bambridge said.

Police are still waging war on the drug growers despite recent changes in
how the court is dealing with small possession, he said, and suggested those
responsible for grow operations are related to organized crime.

Although no arrests have been made in the Northumberland area, the unit has
made nine arrests overall during the current pot season.

"The important thing is keeping it off the street and away from the youth of
today," Const. Bambridge said.

During a large seizure near Norland which police believed was related to
organized crime, officers came upon six people dressed as police and
carrying guns, he said.

The operators of the 18,000 plant grow are believed to be connected to
organized crime, and there was what Const. Bambridge describes as a "tense
stand-off" between OPP officers and the six people dressed as police.

"It appears those six were in there with the sole purpose of ripping it
off," he said. "They had a large cube van, a couple of 4 x 4 vehicles, guns,
clippers -- everything.

The six are facing more than 100 criminal charges related to the incident.