POLICE TARGET HOME MARIJUANA GROWS

Many Caught In Crackdown Are In The GTA

Police across the country swooped down on home growers of marijuana last
month in a 15-day blitz that left 255 people facing drug charges.

Between April 15 and 30, 208 search warrants were executed from coast to
coast and 369 drug charges were laid, police said Thursday.

Operation Greensweep 2, the second national blitz in three months, was
co-ordinated by the Ontario Provincial Police Drug Enforcement Section.

In Ontario alone, 122 search warrants were executed and 125 people were
charged with a total of 234 drug offences. The majority of the Ontario
raids were in areas surrounding Toronto.

British Columbia had the next highest number of raids at 49, with 39 of
them in the Vancouver area.

Police in Alberta (14 raids), Saskatchewan (two raids), Manitoba (two
raids), Quebec (17 raids) and Nova Scotia (two raids) also participated in
the crackdown on the home-grows.

There had been a "huge increase in the number of these grows reported and
detected during the past 18 to 22 months," police said in a release.

The majority of the grow operations were located in residential areas and
posed a fire and safety hazard in the way they were constructed, police said.

Each operation had the potential to produce approximately 1,600 plants a
year and generate $1.6 million in profit, the release said.

In grow operations where the growing time has been accelerated and where
the residence has been altered to accommodate more marijuana, one indoor
hydroponic grow operation can produce much more than that, police said.

"These operations are a threat to our community and we are looking to our
citizens for assistance," said Det. Supt. Jim Hutchinson, an Ontario
Provincial Police spokesman.

"We know of many other grow operations and drug forces across the country
are working their way through the list."

In addition to more than 60,000 marijuana plants, police also seized other
drugs, money and weapons.

A dozen gold bars were found in one of the Ontario raids, police said.

Some of the homes were protected by video surveillance and in others
officers faced fortifications and booby traps.

In January, about 500 officers from more than 20 agencies raided home-grow
operations across Canada. Nearly 140 arrests were made.

Police estimate that one in 10 indoor marijuana grows will go up in flames.

Diversion of electricity and tampering with electrical wiring are the main
causes of the fires.

The indoor hydroponic marijuana operations require massive amounts of water
and hydro.

It is estimated that each indoor hydroponic marijuana grow operation uses
approximately $700 to $1,000 per month in hydro that is not paid for by the
user.

Police said the resulting overloading of the power system can also cause
hydro transformers to blow, resulting in power outages in entire
neighbourhoods.

Police also warn of increased violence in areas where indoor grows are
operating.

In British Columbia, one in eight homicides is related to the marijuana
grow industry, police said.