GRASS GROWS THICK IN CITY: 4,500 INDOOR GROW-OPS, $2.6 BILLION WORTH: RCMP

As many as 4,500 indoor marijuana grow operations are raking in $2.6
billion a year in Surrey.

And most are operating in new homes, a just-completed study by Surrey
RCMP's drug section suggests.

Based on files under investigation and public complaints, the report
estimates there are 3,500 to 4,500 grow ops in city limits at any given
time, 90 per cent of them operated by Vietnamese organized crime gangs,
which favour new houses to conceal the operations. "The typical profile is
$325,000 to $400,000 for the home, if lived in by the cultivator, with an
average of 400 plants in the house," RCMP Const. Tim Shields said Tuesday.

Grows ops have been found in Surrey homes worth as much as $700,000,
Shields added.

While the study doesn't put a total value of the Surrey pot trade, a
conservative estimate of the cash value of the crops ($500,000 to $1
million a year depending on the grow op) suggests Surrey pot growers are
making at least $2.6 billion a year--a figure Shields doesn't dispute.

Police are struggling to keep up with the pot grow op explosion, raiding
less than 10 per cent.

Virtually all of 300 search warrants Mounties executed in the last year
were at new residences, an indication criminals have come to prefer buying
new houses as a handy way of laundering the money they make.

"Some houses have literally have been purchased with garbage bags full of
cash," Shields said.

"They won't even dicker on the price--they'll harvest three or four times,
then sell (the house) at a significantly reduced rate so it moves quickly,
and then they have legitimate money."

Police believe some unscrupulous realtors and home builders are conspiring
with pot growers to construct new houses designed to accommodate grow ops.

"Why else would someone want heavy-duty wiring and ventilation?" Shields asked.

Pot is often swapped for other drugs and weapons, police say--as in the
case of three men caught sneaking across the Canada-U.S. border into South
Surrey two weeks ago.

Dressed in full camouflage, the men were packing 41 handguns, nearly
$100,000 U.S. and a handful of diamonds.

"We believe that was connected to the marijuana trade," Shields said.

While the drug itself may not be significantly harmful, the criminal
activity around indoor grows poses a substantial risk to the public,
Shields warned.

People are buying new homes, unaware their residence was used for criminal
purposes -- and that some crooks may not be aware the grow ops are no
longer operating.

In fact, police believe a number of home invasions and drive-by shootings
in newer neighbourhoods involved that sort of error on the part of attackers.

Criminal activity associated with grow ops is up "exponentially," Shields
said, with four incidents last week alone.