WEST PRINCE RCMP MAKE BIG POT BUST

ELMSDALE -- One hundred and twenty-eight marijuana plants, all near
full maturity, will be going up in smoke -- in an incinerator -- as
soon as the West Prince detachment of the RCMP obtains a Health Canada
destruction order.

Officers with the detachment gathered up the plants during the past
week. They come from three outdoor growing plots in Fortune Cove,
Kildare and Roxbury. A charge of producing a controlled substance is
pending against one individual and the investigation is continuing.

Const. Scott Stevenson, one of the officers involved in the collection
of the illegal plants, said police acted upon tips received from Crime
Stoppers and calls to the detachment and went out and investigated.
Some of the plants were grown in a garden, mixed in with corn and
tomatoes, while others were grown in wooded area. The plants in the
garden were the only weeds in the otherwise well-weeded garden, he
remarked. A search warrant was obtained in one of the areas.

He said some plants were visible from the road, their rich green
foliage standing out from other vegetation.

Stevenson said the police have been getting a lot of tips from the
public this year but he is not sure that means there is more marijuana
being grown or the public has been more vigilant. Asked if there are
likely more illegal marijuana crops, Stevenson replied "oh, I'm sure
there is." He encourages anyone with information to contact the
detachment or Crime Stoppers.

Stevenson said this year's haul is the largest in the eight years he
has served in West Prince.

Officers seized ten additional marijuana plants in the Kildare area
later Thursday.

Concerning the fact that charges are only pending against one person
so far, Stevenson said that's because the individual facing charges
was actually cultivating the crop when officers arrived. He said the
detachment does not have the time nor the resources to keep the
growing operations under surveillance, thus their decision to go in
and retrieve the plants and take them out of circulation. He said the
plants were near maturity and some were loaded with buds, where the
active THC is most concentrated. He estimated that some of the plants
could have produced up to $1,000 worth of marijuana at harvest time.

The plants are being stashed in the RCMP storage garage, mostly in
clear plastic bags, until the destruction order is obtained.