GROW OP CONCEALED INSIDE POOL

Marijuana growers have gone to new depths in plying their illegal trade.
Earlier this month, the Richmond RCMP discovered a modest-sized growing
operation inside an empty pool on the 11000 block of Blundell Road.

Police were led to the marijuana on Feb. 2 after responding to a call that
three masked men were seen jumping a fence near the home.

At the back of the property, investigators found a pool house and inside,
plywood boards were placed over the surface of the empty pool, with a
make-shift door and stairs leading to the pool's floor.

Some 50 plants, about 0.5 metres tall, were seized by police. Another
plywood room on the pool deck also contained numerous emptied pots that had
apparently already been harvested.

This latest break-in attempt has police renewing warnings about the dangers
involved in breaking into grow-ops.

Just last week in Hamilton, Ontario, police came face to face with an
elaborate series of booby traps inside a warehouse filled with marijuana.
Drug squad officers tripped a chemical booby trap and were showered by a
noxious substance that made breathing difficult.

But what they later discovered inside the warehouse was chilling.

A steel door leading into the facility was rigged to electrocute anyone who
pushed it open from the outside.

And then they found jars of highly corrosive nitric acid placed in a door
frame, obviously intended to spill and burn anyone who knocked them over.
"We're going to have to change the way we do business," one investigating
officer said. "We'll have to approach this increased risk appropriately."

Compared to grow-ops in Richmond, the one in Hamilton, Ont. was relatively
small, with just 210 plants worth about $95,000.

Richmond RCMP Const. Peter Thiessen said it's just a matter of time before
someone booby traps a local grow-op and somebody gets hurt.

"We're not immune to it here," Thiessen said, stressing that the Hamilton
incident hints at the steps growers are willing to take to protect their
marijuana. "Why would we think it wouldn't happen here."