3-WEEK BLITZ ON GROW-OPS NETS 10 ARRESTS, 4,600 PLANTS

Local police seized 4,665 marijuana plants worth $1.2 million over a
three-week period ending Friday.

Police confiscated another $35,000 of dried marijuana and arrested 10
suspects during that span. The suspects face charges ranging from
possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and production of a
controlled substance to theft of electricity.

RCMP expects to make more arrests related to the recent "blitz" on
marijuana growing operations, said Cpl. Rhonda Stoner. It included 12 sets
of search warrants at 10 different locations in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.

* The first was on Mar. 28 at a home in the 22500-block of 136 Avenue.
Police arrested three men after locating two marijuana grow-ops on the
property. Police seized 1,900 plants, as well as "numerous" firearms.

* On Apr. 3 RCMP arrested a woman in connection with 1.7 kilograms of dried
marijuana found at a home in the 22800-block of 123 Avenue. Police are
continuing to investigate.

* The next day police arrested another woman, who faces possession,
production and trafficking charges, after they seized 20 bags containing
.23 kg of marijuana each from a home in the 22090-block of Cliff Avenue.

* Two more woman were arrested Apr. 9 after police found two grow-op rooms
at a house in the 12500-block of 206 Street. Police seized 730 plants. The
women face theft, possession, production and trafficking charges. Two
children, both younger than six, were in the home when search warrants were
executed and are now in the care of the Ministry of Children and Family
Development.

* RCMP busted grow-ops at two different locations on Apr. 10. The first in
the 10400-block of Tamarack Lane. Police seized 538 plants from four rooms
in the basement. No one was home at the time, but arrests and charges are
expected.

The second bust was in the 12200-block of Hillside Street. Police arrested
a 28-year-old Maple Ridge man after finding a three-room grow-op in the
basement with 181 marijuana. RCMP also confiscated several long-barrel
firearms and ammunition. The man faces possession, production and
trafficking charges, as well as those for unsafe storage of firearms.

* Police executed simultaneous search warrants on Apr. 11. RCMP first
seized 685 plants from four rooms in the basement of a home in the
12300-block of 188 Street. The concrete floor in the basement had been
jack-hammered through for a "dangerous" and illegal underground hydro
hook-up, police said. No one was home at the time but police expect arrests
and charges soon.

No one was home either when police confiscated 86 plants from a home in the
12200-block of 224 Street.

* RCMP arrest a man and a woman during two separate grow-up busts on
Friday. The first was at a home in the 19500-block of 117 Avenue in Pitt
Meadows. Police found 441 marijuana plants in five rooms, four of them in
the basement and the other upstairs. There was an illegal hydro connection
through a wall in the living room. The woman faces theft, possession,
production and trafficking charges.

The man faces possession, production and trafficking charges after police
found 134 marijuana plants upstairs at a home in the 12900-block of 224 St.

Stoner said tips about marijuana grow-ops had been piling up. The strike
force organized and implemented the blitz with assistance from other
officers. "It was a very successful project," she said.