BEAR RIVER POT-PLANT TAKE COULD REACH 1,000

Bear River - RCMP have put a major dent in the drug trade in Annapolis and
Digby counties, with the seizure of more than 700 marijuana plants Tuesday
and Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Wendell Ackerson said late Wednesday afternoon that the number
of plants taken could reach 1,000 by the time teams finished bringing them
in later in the day.

The estimated value of the plants collected by suppertime was $800,000, he
said, and the total could easily top $1 million by the time the operation ends.

About 20 members of the Digby and Annapolis detachments worked with members
of the Yarmouth drug section and Annapolis Valley and Western Shore highway
patrols to harvest the plants from several sites.

RCMP dog handlers and the force's helicopter from Fredericton were also
involved.

"We concentrated in Bear River for a large part of the time but also spent
some time in Weymouth, Digby Neck and Long Island," Staff Sgt. Ackerson said.

He said the helicopter was the key to finding a lot of the sites, and used
a global positioning system to pinpoint their locations for officers on the
ground.

A fair amount of information was gathered before the operation, he said,
including tips received on a special phone line set up by a Bear River
citizens group in response to concerns about the drug trade.

Staff Sgt. Ackerson said most of the plants came from clearings off woods
roads or patches on land behind homes. Usually, the officers who were
uprooting the plants brought them out, but sometimes the helicopter was
used when the harvest was too big. The largest site yielded about 150
plants, while the smaller ones contained about 20.

Staff Sgt. Ackerson said he's hoping a couple more large sites will be
found before the operation winds down.

He said the helicopter would not be involved after Wednesday night, but the
harvesting would continue for several days.

"I'm very satisfied with what we've found," Staff Sgt. Ackerson said. "I
would like to find 10 times more. . . . It's symbolic of the size of the
industry out there and is a start."

He said because of the size of the plantings found, "there's no question"
that the plants were for dealers selling in the local area, or for export
to other parts of Nova Scotia or out of province.

He said the operation will affect pushers and the drug culture in the Bear
River area.

"I believe it's going to hurt them, and we're not finished yet," he said.

The plants were taken to an undisclosed location to be destroyed.

Police were not making any arrests as they were concentrating on collecting
the plants, but Staff Sgt. Ackerson said a couple of followup arrests are
possible.