Pubdate: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 Source: Daily Press, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2001 Daily Press (CN ON) Contact: http://www.timminspress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1001 OPP OFFICERS SEIZE POT PLANTS WORTH $629,000 Another marijuana plantation in Northeastern Ontario has been shut down by police. This time, 620 marijuana plants, with an estimated street value of $629,000, were uprooted from vacant land just off Clark Road on the outskirts of Monteith. Following up on information, an aerial search by police confirmed the existence of the plantation. Thursday, officers of the South Porcupine detachment of the Ontario Provincial Polices crime unit and emergency response team, working together with officers of the Iroquois Falls detachment of the OPP, entered the area. They seized the plants as well as equipment used to cultivate them, including a water pump, hoses, gas cans and an ATV trailer. To date no arrests have been made and the investigation continues. At press time it wasnt known who owns the property or whether the owner knew about activities going on. Anyone with information about the marijuana plantation is asked to call the OPP crime unit at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Citizens reporting information to Crime Stoppers are not asked to identify themselves, nor are their phone numbers identified. Rewards are supplied for information leading to convictions. Four other marijuana plantations were shut down on Aug. 27 in the area patrolled by the South Porcupine OPP cluster. On Aug. 27, a police raid resulted in the seizure of 2,037 plants with a street value of more than $2 million and the arrest of two men. The closure of the plantations is part of the OPPs Project Chopper campaign. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake