POLICE SMOKE OUT POT GROW

Local pot-growing operations have been dropping like flies during the
past 12 months as Ottawa police busted their 37th grow house yesterday
in the city's west end.

Three people were arrested after the tactical team and members of the
drug squad descended on 19 Rutherford Cres. around 9:30 a.m. A
three-month-old baby girl was also in the house at the time.

Police found a marijuana-growing operation in the basement, along with
two more rooms on the main floor loaded with equipment. Officers
hauled 394 plants from the Kanata home, which was sparsely furnished.

TIP CALLED IN

"The operation itself was worth over $1 million annually," said drug
squad Sgt. Greg Brown.

Police said the bust was the result of a Crime Stoppers tip. "We're
getting a phenomenal amount of co-operation from people in the
community and with neighbours calling in," said Brown.

Police said the 3,000-sq.-ft. home had been significantly modified to
support the sophisticated growing operation, including overhauls to
bypass the hydro meter.

The home owner, 26-year-old Samrach Phen, and two Montreal residents,
Hoat Tea, 31, and Ly Kheng Ngoy, 30, have been charged with production
of a controlled substance, production for purpose of trafficking,
theft of hydro, and possession of the proceeds of crime. They were
released from custody last night.