GREEN DAZE - SOUTH-END POT BUST IS LATEST BATTLE POLICE FACE
IN THE WAR ON GROW-OPS

What appears to be a run-of-the-mill home on the outside is anything
but on the inside.

Feces from a pair of large Rottweilers litters the floor. Mould grows
on the walls. The house is strewn with drug paraphernalia and garbage.
And the carpet is ripped up.

That's what Barrie police found when they kicked in the door at 396
Big Bay Point Rd., Tuesday, and dismantled a marijuana grow house,
seizing an estimated $800,000 worth of drugs and stolen guns.

The weapons were somewhat of a surprise for police.

"They had an idea what they were going in for," Barrie police Sgt.
Dave Goodbrand said yesterday. "But you never know exactly what you'll
find or what you're coming into."

Officers found 766 marijuana plants worth $766,000, eight ounces of
cocaine worth $23,000, two pounds of packaged marijuana worth $14,200,
plus $3,750 in ecstasy pills, $3,000 in LSD, and smaller quantities of
pills and hashish.

Police also found a 45-calibre handgun stolen from Orillia and a
.22-calibre rifle and scope stolen from Newmarket.

"We have to expect people operating illegal grow operations may have
weapons for protective purposes," said Goodbrand, who called the bust
"a good score" for police.

"You'll never stop (the drug trade), but we are making dents, and that
does have an effect on the streets," he said. "But it's shocking, and
you can see the power of drugs and the money that's associated with
it."

Police say the detached home, a rental unit, is rife with mould from
high moisture levels, and may have to be torn down.

"You can smell the mould," Goodbrand said during a tour through the
home.

"You can see the mould even beginning to grow in rooms where they
didn't have plants."

The grow-op bust was the first in the city this year.

Although police aren't sure how long the grow house was operational or
how much weed it yielded, it was quite evident that it was a
well-orchestrated affair.

Downstairs was where all the action was. The suspects were growing
weed in about a half-dozen rooms, and police believe plants would be
moved from room to room as they matured to allow for the proper
temperature.

Reflective paper surrounded the plants to increase lighting. There are
holes in the walls where hoses were placed to increase ventilation.
Plywood covered the doors to soundproof the rooms.

"These guys aren't stupid," Goodbrand said. "They're like little
scientists when it comes to things like pH levels and the proper
temperatures."

Three tenants face numerous charges. They are Tyson Agnew, 29; Dennis
Frazer Thomson, 23; and Amanda Nicole Krawczuk, 25.

Police haven't made a final determination about whether there were
other people involved in the criminal business.

"As it stands, they're the ones who are accountable because they are
the ones who were living here," Goodbrand said.

The three suspects are charged with: production of marijuana; five
counts of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking; six
counts of possession of a controlled substance; two counts of careless
storage of a firearm; possession of a restricted weapon without a
licence; possession of a firearm without a licence; two counts of
possession of a prohibited weapon; possession of a restricted weapon
with ammunition; and possession of a firearm through the commission of
an offence.

While dwarfed in scale by Tuesday's grow-op bust, police halted a
similar enterprise yesterday at a house just around the corner. A
residential fire alarm summoned firefighters to a Loon Avenue home
where several pot plants were found.

Police rely on public input when it comes to things that appear out of
the ordinary. And a person's instincts are often bang-on, Goodbrand
said.

"Neighbours know what's going on," he said. "They should watch for
trends like the windows being covered up, people coming and going at
all hours, or using a lot of fertilizer.

"People don't have to call us," he said. "Call Crime
Stoppers."

Pot Busts At A Glance

February 2007 - An OPP raid at an Alliston home nets 655 marijuana
plants worth about $60,000.

December 2006 - Barrie police pull the plug on two neighbouring grow
houses in the city's south end before finding more plants at a local
business. The haul was about $250,000, plus $100,000 in grow equipment.

August 2006 - Southern Georgian Bay OPP find about 1,000 marijuana
plants growing in a Tiny Township home with an estimated value of
$600,000, and $30,000 in grow equipment.

January 2006 - In the hamlet of Glencairn, west of Base Borden, OPP
officers find a grow house with 580 marijuana plants with an estimated
wholesale price of $120,000.

January 2004 - Police uncover a massive marijuana grow operation in
the former Molson brewery, including approximately 30,000 plants. It's
believed to have been the largest in Canadian history.