INDOOR POT-FARMING TREND PUSHES INTO COTTAGE COUNTRY

Police continue hunting for the people who stole hydro to power an indoor
marijuana farm set up in the basement of a Lone Pine Drive house.

Last Thursday's drug bust marks the advancement of a trend which sees
sophisticated, indoor pot growing operations creeping into cottage country,
say police.

Officers with the Muskoka OPP Crime Unit and the Huronia Combined Forces
Drug Unit stormed into a white-paneled bungalow about 8:30 a.m Thursday.
The house, number 2250, is located between Huntsville and Bracebridge near
Stephenson Road 1.

Police were immediately struck by the pungent odour of pot plants growing
at various stages in a downstairs hydroponic lab. By noon, a mixture of
plain clothed and uniformed officers had removed 1,194 healthy pot plants
from inside. Detective Sergeant James Clotka estimated the value of the
drugs to be about a half million dollars.

Evidence was also uncovered at the scene of hydro electric power being
stolen to fuel the operation. A series of lights, large reflectors that
looked like satellite dishes, and an assortment of ballasts were carried
out of the house. In all, about $66,000 in growing equipment was seized as
evidence by the OPP.

"We have found considerable unsafe wiring. They have dug into the ground
and tapped ahead of the meter. They were stealing power from Hydro One,
which of course is raising your bill and mine," said area electrical
inspector Rick Allan.

"There are shock hazards all through the house."

Charges could be laid under the Electrical Safety Act of Ontario. The
culprits could face a maximum fine of $5,000 for wiring without permits and
connecting without inspection.

Evidence to date points to the house being used strictly for the purposes
of growing pot.

"The last thing that the growers want to do is bring attention to
themselves by having people coming in and out of the home to buy drugs.
Something like this would have been strictly used to grow the marijuana,"
said Clotka.

"It would take someone with a lot of knowledge, a professional, to do
something like this up. This is not a small "mom and pop" type of grow."

Investigators were led to the house thanks to information provided by the
public and police surveillance carried out prior to the search warrant
being executed. Clotka said nobody was inside the home at the time police
entered.

There were sparse furnishings inside. It is suspected the growers would
frequent the house at least once or twice a month to tend to their crop and
then leave.

"Unfortunately these types of grows are becoming quite common. This is the
first one I have seen this far north. It appears that the this trend is
working its way up from Toronto," said Clotka. "It is hitting the bigger
towns like Barrie and moving to the smaller communities."

Growers are leaning toward the indoor operations, according to Clotka,
because they cannot be detected by chopper fly-overs. A higher quality
product can also be farmed because there is more light and nutrient control
with an indoor operation.

Clotka said the investigation was looking into the owner of the Lone Pine
Drive home and the possibility that it could have been rented. Police were
yet to reveal any suspects as of Monday afternoon.