CRIMINALS SETTING BOOBY TRAPS COULD FACE LIFE IN PRISON

Canadians who protect their criminal enterprises -- such as drug labs or
grow operations -- with traps will face harsh penalties under federal
legislation expected to be introduced today.

The legislation, to be introduced by Justice Minister Martin Cauchon,
responds to concerns raised by firefighters and other emergency workers
about the growing threat to their safety posed by traps, including
explosives and trip-wired firearms.

Other known devices have included cut-aways and false floors used to impede
police, emergency workers, or rival criminal gangs, sources said.

Organized gangs, which have reaped profits by stealing electricity from
power grids, often rig marijuana grow operations to alert them to the
presence of law enforcers or to destroy evidence.

The penalty for the new offence could run to a maximum of life in prison,
in accordance with requests from firefighters, The Canadian Press has learned.

A recent grow operation worth some $5 million in New Brunswick was riddled
with 30 spring-loaded traps normally used to trap animals. Police said the
traps were there to cause injury to law enforcers or anyone trying to steal
the plants. In another instance in Nova Scotia's Annapolis county, a boy
was shot in the leg after a trip wire in a marijuana field triggered a shotgun.