GROW OPERATION FOUND IN RAID ON TUXEDO HOME

Pot plants worth estimated $1M on the street

A raid by police of a lavish Tuxedo home yesterday revealed a hydroponic
marijuana-growing operation with an estimated street value of $1 million.

The city's RCMP drug section and several other units converged on a
2,500-square-foot home at 46 Park Place East in the upscale Winnipeg
neighbourhood yesterday morning and seized about 1,000 plants, as well as
three ounces of dry marijuana bud, from the basement of the home.

One neighbourhood resident, who didn't want to be identified, said he
couldn't believe he was living down the street from a drug operation.

"I'm just shocked. This is one of the best neighbourhoods, I believe, in the
city," he said. "A person pays a lot of money for a nice place to live and
raise kids. This is really bad."

It appeared stolen electricity was being used to power the grow operation.

A man and a woman were taken into custody without incident, police said. The
couple will likely face charges of cultivating marijuana, although no
charges had been laid last night. The registered owners of the home are
Ostoja and Sofija Suvajac, according to city tax records. Neighbours,
however, said the Suvajacs had rented out the elaborate, red-brick home.

The Suvajacs themselves live at 38 Park Place East, just two doors down from
the site of the bust. No one answered the door there, and telephone calls
were not returned.

The bust continued a recent trend of marijuana grow operations being
discovered in quiet residential neighbourhoods, often in upscale parts of
the city.

Marcia McKenzie, who lives between the Suvajac properties at 42 Park Place
East, was shocked with the morning's events.

"I can't believe we're seeing this in an area like this," said McKenzie.

She said the two people living at 46 Park Place East kept to themselves. "We
didn't see those people that much. They weren't very communicative. But we
had no inkling anything like this was going on."

McKenzie said she stepped out at 6:30 a.m. to get her newspaper and
immediately noticed a strange odour in the air.

"I smelled something funny, but I didn't know what it was. I've never
smelled it outside here before," she said.

About an hour later, McKenzie's 18-year-old daughter, Pam, went outside to
start her car and saw police at 46 Park Place East.

"There must have been 30 officers and they moved quickly, in and out of the
house. About eight had rifles and there were a few dogs," Pam said. "It was
very weird. I stood and watched them, but they weren't paying any attention
to me. They didn't ask me to go inside or anything."

It's the second straight bust of a marijuana-growing operation by police in
as many days. City police shut down an operation after a raid Thursday on
Hespeler Avenue in East Kildonan.