POLICE SEIZE HOUSES, CARS IN POT-GROW CASES

More Seizures Expected as New Law Used Aggressively

Kitchener - For the first time ever in Waterloo Region, police are trying
to take away houses used for large-scale marijuana-growing operations.

Yesterday, police announced they had seized six houses and two cars valued
at about $1.25 million as part of a joint RCMP-Waterloo regional police
investigation into the proceeds of crime from pot grows.

Of the six houses, two are in Kitchener and one is in Waterloo. The rest
are in Guelph, Mississauga and Brampton.

A 1997 Honda Prelude was also seized from a Kitchener owner.

Charges of possession over $5,000 of the proceeds of crime are expected to
be laid against the owners of the six houses in about three weeks, said
Insp. Kevin Harrison of the RCMP's integrated proceeds of crime unit in London.

If an owner is found guilty, the house is sold on the open market and the
money goes to Revenue Canada coffers, Harrison said.

In addition to the loss of the house, owners could face hefty fines imposed
by the courts, he said.

"Anytime we can inflict a bigger loss, the more impact on the
organization," said Harrison.

"They need cash to operate," he said. "The idea is to take away as much
from them as you can to decapitate them."

Staff Sgt. Ray Massicotte, head of the Waterloo regional police drug squad,
said he hopes the additional penalty of possession of the proceeds of crime
will act as a deterrent for dope farmers.

"We need to take the profit out of the crime. Proceeds of crime goes a long
way in doing that," he said.

The six houses are owned by members of the Tran family. Ba Thuan Tran, 55,
faces charges of growing pot at 78 Lewis Cres. in Kitchener. Tran, who was
busted locally last June, was convicted on similar dope charges in British
Columbia about two years ago.

A west coast judge gave him a six-month sentence of house arrest and
allowed him to serve it in Kitchener where he had relatives.

Tran and members of his family including his son, daughter and son-in-law,
were among 22 people busted last June as part of a six-month police sting
dubbed Project Greenhouse. In the early-morning raids, 17 houses in
Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph and the Toronto area were found to be stealing
hydro to grow hundreds of marijuana plants.

Since Jan. 7, investigating the proceeds of crime has become easier for
police with the passage of the federal Bill C-24. Harrison said before the
changes, police would take months, up to eight in Project Greenhouse, to
prove a marijuana grow house was "significantly modified" by the dope.

The complicated process involved estimates from insurance companies, quotes
from banks on mortgages and opinions of hydro officials. At times, advice
from structural engineers looking at the house growing dope needed to be
taken into consideration, said Harrison.

The changes now mean police must only show evidence that the pot house was
"significantly used."

In other words, proof must be shown that a house was strictly used to
cultivate pot. Such an example would occur when police raid a house and
find only a cot, some beer in the fridge, maybe a TV and a basement full of
pot, he said.

Harrison said the courts may be reluctant to take away a house that has a
family and two children living in it.

Harrison said he expects a "boom" in the number of houses seized.

Massicotte said the legislative changes will "open the door for this
(proceeds of crime investigations) to be done in practice in the future."