TOO MANY GROW HOUSES TO BUST: HAMILTON POLICE

HAMILTON - More than a hundred large-scale marijuana laboratories 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 raid last January 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.

Petkoff told Ontario Court Justice Bernd Zabel the number and size of
residential grow operations in Hamilton has increased dramatically in the
past 18 months. He said they operate in some of the best neighbourhoods
behind the closed curtains of inner city and suburban homes.

"There are well over 100 suspected grow operations which have not been
investigated," Petkoff said. "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 said: "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. There's more work than we have
bodies to do it. It's a huge problem. We're doing the best we can. But we
have to balance priorities."

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 metre 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, which is owned by the city.

When the utility company read the metre at 32 Chianti Cres. last Jan. 25,
it showed 203 watts of power going through the metre. But when measured at
the source, the actual amount of power 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, said Upton.

He said it was as if the tenant had simultaneously turned on 486 lights,
each with a 60-watt bulb.

Upton entered with police when they executed their search warrant on Jan.
30 and shut off all power to make the place safe. He said the house was
rife with fire and electrical hazards, including exposed live wires and
overheated electrical ballasts, which were used 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 90-degree Fahrenheit 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 are 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.

"You could do three or four a day," he said. "We could work full-time on
hydroponic grows and leave everything else. Marijuana, unfortunately, is
not the only drug out there."

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.