ILLEGAL POT FARMS A THREAT IN NORTH: OPP

With harvest time approaching, growers set booby traps to prevent
theft of their illegal harvest

Booby-trapped marijuana grow operations are a serious danger for
police and anyone else who may stumble upon them, an Ontario
Provincial Police officer warns.

As harvest season nears for growing operations, the plants become more
valuable, said Oscar Horth, an OPP drug enforcement officer.

Growers are taking more elaborate steps to protect their investment,
Horth said.

The traps consist of everything from razor wire to shotguns connected
to trip wires.

In one case several years ago in eastern Ontario, two people were shot
by such a device, said Horth, an acting detective sergeant with the
OPP's drug enforcement section in North Bay.

Ironically, the two people shot were trying to steal plants at an
outdoor plot.

'There was a situation where there was a sensor of some kind that was
tripped by these two individuals who were about to rip off an illegal
grow,' Horth said.

'They were met by gunfire.

'One was struck in the neck and the buttocks. Both were fairly
seriously injured.'

Because of the traps, police have put a special emphasis on training
the officers in the field about the devices.

'We are training our people to really be cautious of these types of
devices,' he said 'We are reaching the time of the season where it is
profit time.

'These people that grow these crops have invested a lot of time and
effort and sweat and they don't want to lose their crops.'

The crops are showing up just about anywhere there is a patch of land
to grow on, said Horth.

'It is very easy for them to hide their plots in the North. The fact
that we have such a vast woodland up here makes it quite easy to find
a location in a remote area that will allow them to produce a bumper
crop.'

That could pose some real problems for anyone who happens to be in the
area of a growing operation, whether they are picking berries or
simply out for a walk.

Each year police come across hundreds of acres of illegal growing
operations in Northern Ontario, where the crops are planted among
other bushes that can help camouflage the marijuana plants.

Crown land, farm properties, berry patches and wet areas adjacent to
marshes and swamps are all favoured locations, said Horth.

'But our concern right now is the folks who are out berry picking who
find themselves in the middle of a patch of marijuana,' he said.

As the harvest time for the plants nears, there will be increased
activity around them, he said. People should be on the lookout for
unfamiliar vehicles parked in secluded areas at odd hours, and of new
footpaths or all-terrain-vehicle trails that could lead from rural
roads into the grow areas.

Anyone who comes upon a growing operation should record the exact
location and call Crime Stoppers or the nearest police service.

Horth said the OPP is looking to work out a deal with the Rainbow
Crime Stoppers program based in Sudbury to double the usual $1,000
reward for information leading to illegal grow activities.

A similar deal reached with the North Bay Crime Stoppers program has
been highly successful, he said.

The OPP number is 1-888-310-1122 while the Crime Stoppers number is
1-800-222-TIPS (8477).