ORGANIZED CRIME LIKELY PUT CAMERAS IN EAST END GROW OPS

Hamilton police were likely being watched on computer monitors when
they shut down the largest grow operation in the city's history last month.

Apart from the $12 million in marijuana spread among 49 apartments in
three east end apartment buildings, plus thousands of dollars of grow
op equipment, police say they found TV cameras in six units. Police
say it's the first time they have found this in tackling the
burgeoning grow op industry.

"We've gone through grow ops where they've been booby trapped and
they've had issues and alarms there that would have triggered someone
was there, but this is the first time we've actually seen video
cameras that were on site and directed to another source to let
someone know someone was in their grow op," Deputy Chief Ken
Leendertse told reporters yesterday after he made a brief
presentation on the bust to the police services board.

"It shows a sophistication. We're talking hundreds of thousands of
dollars of equipment and wiring and cameras. We're talking a
significant amount of investment."

Leendertse, for the first time, said police believe organized crime
was behind the grow ops in the highrises on Grandville Avenue,
Delawana Drive and Violet Drive, just east of Centennial Parkway.

No one has been arrested, but police have said they suspect three
people were behind the operation that might have been operating since
October. In the March raids, police seized about 12,000 pot plants.

"They were Internet-based cameras and it's very interesting in that
this was a very sophisticated operation," the deputy chief said.
"This wasn't your typical mom and pop grow op. It's organized crime."

Leendertse said the cameras were found in the six units police
originally cited in search warrants for the Grandville Avenue
building. He believes if the operators saw police shutting down and
removing plants from those six units, they would realize the jig was
up in the other 44 units. He says the cameras should help
investigators find the operators.

"It's a good lead for us," he said. "The link should be able to help
us find out who is responsible."

Meanwhile, Councillor Terry Whitehead told the police board he's
asked city staff to look at following Niagara Falls's example of
demolishing homes that have grow ops because of health worries about
mould for future owners. He said his ward has not been spared grow
ops in homes, including one in a high-end area of his Mountain ward.

"I like the idea because it becomes a little more costly to those who
breach the law," said Whitehead.

Leendertse applauded the move to consider demolition because it deals
with the property standards, health and fire issues grow ops create.