POT OPERATION SPARKED GALT BLACKOUT

126 East Galt Customers Were Without Power For As Long As 14 Hours

It wasn't the Grinch who stole the power in a Cambridge neighbourhood two
days before Christmas, it was a sophisticated illegal marijuana growing
operation.

A total of 126 customers in The Greenway neighbourhood in east Galt were
without power, some for 14 hours on a chilly Dec. 23.

The blackout led Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro and Waterloo Regional
Police to an illegal pot garden inside an upstairs bedroom and basement of
a modest three-bedroom bungalow at 66 The Greenway.

On Christmas Eve, police seized 177 marijuana plants, $15,000 worth of
growing equipment and about $1,200 in cash.

A 46-year-old man of Vietnamese descent was arrested in the raid. Police
later learned he was in Canada on a visitor's visa with an Australian passport.

John Grotheer, the manager of Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro, said some
grow houses use 10 times the amount of electricity a normal house would
use. It's a dead giveaway to hydro officials who monitor residential usage
rates in co-operation with police.

For this reason, many drug operations - including the one at 66 The
Greenway - hot-wire the home's electrical system to bypass the meter.

It was possibly a botched bypass or an overload of the system that caused
the blackout which cost Hydro about $10,000 in repairs and another $10,000
in stolen electricity, Grotheer said.

"This is a serious problem that costs all of us in direct dollars and on
our power bills," Grotheer said.

The Christmas Eve pot bust brings to 68 the number of similar illegal
pot-growing operations police and hydro officials have shut down in
Waterloo Region since June 2000.

But the head of the regional police drug squad said again yesterday that
investigators are only scratching the surface.

"No matter where you live in Waterloo Region, you can walk to (a pot house)
within 10 minutes of your home," said Staff Sergeant Ray Massicotte.

Two years ago police would uncover the odd pot growing operation here, but
now police estimate there are another 200 in operation across the region.

Illegal marijuana growing is big business, with each grow house estimated
to produce about $1 million of the drug per year. Massicotte said the
people operating the ones here are part of an organized crime cell. About
90 per cent of those already charged are of Vietnamese decent. This is at
least the third case involving foreigners visiting Canada.

"We're doing what we can with the resources we have," Massicotte said.

"The problem just isn't a police one, it's a community problem. The only
way we'll be able to solve it is by the community working together. The
police can't do it alone."

Two days before Christmas about 125 residents in and around The Greenway
woke up with no electricity. The phones at the Cambridge hydro office
started ringing off the hook around 8 a.m.

In total, 73 customers in East Galt were without power for 14 hours and 53
more residences and businesses were without electricity for seven hours.
Some of those affected said they were inconvenienced because many were also
left without heat. Some ended up storing their food outside, others spent
the day with relatives.

The electrical problem was eventually traced to 66 The Gateway. When Hydro
investigators went in to check the problem, they discovered the marijuana.

Before police could go in, hydro workers had to make the home safe. A
tangle of live wires were strung from the ceiling of a bedroom and in the
basement. Then officers wearing protective clothing and breathing
apparatuses searched the house, which was laden with vats of toxic chemical
pesticides and fertilizers. In the end officers carried out a truck full of
marijuana plants in various stages of growth and huge heat lamps and
reflectors.

Some residents on The Greenway, a middle class court off Glamis Road that
is home to modest single and semi-detached homes, told The Reporter they
weren't surprised by the drug raid on their street. The house was sold
about a year ago and the lone male resident was rarely home and kept to
himself. The blinds were always kept drawn on the main floor windows. And
when people did come to visit, it was usually at night and then cars would
come and go from the home.

Despite their suspicions, nobody called police or CrimeStoppers
anonymously, Massicotte said. "They didn't want to be bad neighbours, I guess."

Instead, they're lucky they weren't hurt, he says.

The pot houses have been blamed for two fires, one on Scott Road in
Cambridge and another in Kitchener where the residents and their two
children barely escaped with the clothes on their backs. To date, about 15
children under the age of 10 have been taken into care by Family and
Children's Services after their parents were arrested and they were found
playing around fire, electrical and chemical hazards.

In addition, there's the natural spinoff drugs brings - guns and possible
violence.

"I guess it falls on the public's shoulders. How much are they willing to
tolerate in their neighbourhoods? We rely on their help" for information,
Massicotte said.

Yesterday the brown brick house at 66 The Gateway sat empty with the mail
box overflowing with flyers and letters. There was still food left out on
the kitchen table, a china tea set sat undisturbed on the coffee table in
the living room. A snow-covered blue Mazda hatchback was parked in the
driveway.

Several neighbours contacted by The Reporter yesterday were reluctant to
talk openly out of fear for themselves and their children because a drug
ring was operating across the street from their homes. One resident runs a
legitimate home-based business next door to the pot house, another
neighbour across the street is a corrections officer.

Although many of the homes previously raided were unoccupied but had just
enough furnishings to "appear" lived in, it looks as though someone did
live in The Greenway house at least part of the time. Blanket-covered
mattresses lay on the floor in two of the three bedrooms, along with some
personal items, such as clothing and a gym bag. There were appliances in
the small kitchen and a sofa in the living room.

Neighbours say the yard was tended and garbage put out to the curb
regularly. It's what they didn't see that has residents worried today.

Hau Van Do, 46, was arrested and charged with production of a controlled
substance, possession of an illegal substance for the purpose of
trafficking, theft of electricity and possession of the proceeds of crime.
Do was held in custody after his first court hearing in Kitchener federal
court Dec. 25. His next court appearance is tomorrow.