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this has nothing on the bust in Barrie/Toronto off highway 400 a year or two back!
I'll see if I can find that stuff again.
edit:
Massive marijuana bust symptom of 'epidemic'
Police estimate there are about 15,000 illegal marijuana grow operations in Ontario.
CP 2004-01-13 04:09:25
BARRIE -- A marijuana "factory" concealed within a sprawling old brewery just steps from one of Ontario's busiest highways is proof Canada's pot problem has reached "epidemic proportions," police said yesterday. The former Molson brewery in Barrie, plainly visible from Highway 400, one of the province's busiest commuter routes, was raided on the weekend by about 100 city and provincial police officers acting on a tip.
Inside, police found marijuana with what they said had an estimated street value of $30 million, along with a grow operation of staggering proportions -- the largest and most sophisticated in modern Canadian history.
"This is not a ma and pa operation," Barrie police Chief Wayne Frechette said at a news conference in this city an hour's drive north of Toronto.
Across a 5,400-square-metre complex the size of a football field, police found more than 25,000 pot plants growing everywhere -- even inside the cavernous indoor vats once used to brew beer.
Molson closed the brewery in 2000 and sold it to a company that leases space to about half a dozen businesses. The other companies included trucking companies and a bottling company, police said.
A police video shot shortly after the raid showed the vats teeming with marijuana plants and an elaborate electrical room where hydro was used to power the lights that facilitate the growing process.
Huge drawers, used to spread harvested marijuana to dry, were seen in the video, each one brimming with buds.
"This particular marijuana factory is the largest and most sophisticated I'm aware of in Canada," said provincial police deputy commissioner Vaughn Collins.
"Commercial marijuana operations have reached epidemic proportions in Ontario; they are in every community and most are controlled by organized crime."
The facility was set up to operate 24 hours a day and included living quarters capable of housing as many as 50 people at once, said OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Rick Barnum.
"These areas . . . included common areas with beds, televisions, fridges and stoves similar to dormitory-type facilities," Barnum said.
Marijuana grown in Canada is routinely shipped to the U.S., Collins said.
"Much of Ontario marijuana is destined for U.S. markets, and it's often traded for cocaine brought back into Canada."
Frechette, who cited the "big-box" operation as an example of how marijuana has allowed organized crime to penetrate Canadian communities, urged the public to be vigilant and watch for "suspicious activities."
Nine people were charged, eight of them with one count each of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Charged are Robert Bleich, 29, of Stayner; Tomas Gates, 33, of Corunna; Michael DiCicco, 60, and Scott Dillon, 23, both of Toronto; Scott Walker, 34, and Zoran Stojanovic, 49, both of St. Catharines; and Edward MacAdam, 43, and Craig Walker, 24, both of Niagara Falls.
Rayne Sauve, 36, of St. Catharines was also charged with one count of production of a controlled substance as well as one charge each of possession of cocaine, possession of ecstasy and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
A second grow house was also discovered Sunday just north of the city. Investigators seized more than 30,000 marijuana plants from the two locations.
The brewery operation is almost certainly not the only one of its scale in Canada, law enforcement officials warned.
"Just because we have not stumbled on them . . . doesn't mean they're not there," said RCMP Chief Supt. Raf Souccar, the force's director-general of drugs and organized crime.
"The risk is low, the profit is high, deterrence is not there, so it makes it an attractive proposition."
Police estimate there are about 15,000 illegal marijuana grow operations in Ontario.
But operations like the one in Barrie are not common, insisted Alan Young, a prominent Toronto lawyer best known for his work as a marijuana advocate and activist.
Young, who insisted most marijuana cultivated in Canada is grown on a small scale for personal use, accused police of trumpeting their discovery in Barrie in an effort to sway Ottawa away from decriminalization.
"This really was a lucky find for the police and they'll exploit it to gain greater support."
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Dave (aka: Upgrade- live pa)
| quote: | Originally posted by Lightshow
i wear sunglasses for the same reason everybody wears them in a club. 1: people look cool in sunglasses
2: it gets awefully bright as the night progresses |
*nusty does not wear sunglasses at night, they make it hard to see and you could trip
|
