MARIJUANA HOUSES GROWING OUT OF CONTROL

More than 100 large-scale marijuana labs are quietly operating in
residential neighbourhoods but Hamilton police have been too busy to raid
them. That was the testimony yesterday from a drug-and-vice squad officer,
Detective Mark Petkoff, who took part in a January raid in which 532
marijuana plants were seized from a Stoney Creek house, along with $30,000
in pot-growing equipment and nearly $8,000 in cash. He told Ontario Court
Justice Bernd Zabel the number and size of residential grow operations in
Hamilton has increased dramatically in the past 18 months. "There are well
over 100 suspected grow operations which have not been investigated. We
base this on Crime Stoppers and other tips that come into our office. Your
Honour, I constantly get calls from neighbours and that is sometimes how we
prioritize these things."

The detective was testifying at the sentence hearing of Khuong Van Nguyen,
38, who pleaded guilty on March 7 to cultivating cannabis marijuana and to
theft of electricity valued at more than $5,000.

Police were alerted by Hamilton Hydro after the utility received an
anonymous tip about a suspected hydro theft at a Chianti Crescent
residence. When the utility investigated, its agent noticed a strong odour
of marijuana evident from the front sidewalk of the two-storey,
single-family house.

In a recent interview, Police Chief Ken Robertson told The Spectator:
"There are only so many officers we can devote to breaking up home-grows
when there's all kinds of other crimes to contend with."

Carmen Upton, a revenue protection specialist at Hamilton Hydro, testified
the house, which was home to several adults and four small children, was a
dangerous fire trap and an electrocution hazard.

In order to power 53 grow lamps of 1,000 watts each, the illegal gardeners
bypassed their hydro meter and tapped directly into the power lines
servicing the house. By this means, they milked the utility of thousands of
dollars a month in stolen electricity.

Upton said this type of electrical theft amounts to losses in the millions
of dollars a year for Hamilton Hydro.

When the utility company read the meter at 32 Chianti Crescent on Jan. 25,
it showed 203 watts of power. But when measured at the source, the actual
amount surging into the house was a whopping 29,040 watts. This far
exceeded the safe rating or capacity of the home's 100-ampere service,
Upton said.

Upton entered with police when they executed their search warrant on Jan.
30. He said the house was rife with fire and electrical hazards, including
exposed live wires and overheated electrical ballasts, which were used to
operate fluorescent lamps.

"They had fans blowing on this equipment, trying to keep it cool, but the
wooden shelves under the ballasts were all scorched and burned."

Police laboured several hours in 32 C heat carting portable fans, blowers,
piping, hydroponic equipment, garbage pails and plastic bags out of the house.

Petkoff said the potential value of the marijuana seized was $532,000. At a
street value of $300 per ounce, it would require a yield of 3 1/3 ounces of
bud per plant to make $1,000. This estimate does not include shake from
leaves and stems, which is used to manufacture cannabis resin.

Detective Sergeant Rick Wills, head of vice and drugs, said the 16-officer
unit was swamped with tips about marijuana grow operations.

Petkoff said precautionary measures require at least six officers to
execute a raid on a suspected grow operation.

The day Nguyen was busted, more than 100 search warrants were executed by
police services across Canada in a project called Operation Green-sweep,
which targeted hydroponic marijuana operations across the country.

Nguyen's sentence hearing continues on May 9.