Pubdate: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2004, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/home.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Jack Boland Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy) REZONED FOR DRUGS Growhouse Found Right Next Door to Ecstasy Lab WHERE THERE'S smoke there is usually fire, but this time there was also a $10-million Ecstasy production lab with a marijuana growhouse next door. York Regional Police and Markham firefighters found the Ecstasy lab around 8:15 a.m. on Saturday as they arrived at a spacious home on Manhattan Dr., near McCowan and 16th Aves. As they were checking around the exterior of that home, they noticed the windows of the house next door were covered, a typical tactic used by growhouse operators to hide their illegal activities. Yesterday, armed with a search warrant, they broke down the door of the house and found growing paraphernalia and three large garbage bags full of leftover stalks in the basement. But the rest of the house looked as if it had been prepared for resale, police said. 'Christmas' For Cops At the same time next door, officers were cleaning up the chemical mess at the Ecstasy drug lab house. "It seems like Christmas. Every time you opened another door there was a big surprise," said Det. Rob Cullen of the York Regional Police drug enforcement unit. Yesterday and Sunday drug enforcement officers, along with two Health Canada workers -- wearing blue chemical suits and air masks -- were busy sifting through the upper floors of the house, collecting toxic, caustic evidence. "We discovered large oversized volumes of lab equipment were being used to cook in large batches," said Cullen. "Had this thing exploded it would have levelled the house, plus the homes on either side." Police removed boxes and vats of chemicals, 50 kilos of finished and half-produced powder, plus 12.2 kilos of processed and packaged marijuana yesterday. Police suspect a second house is being used to process the powder into pill form for sale. Police are searching for a 40-year-old Asian man and an 8-year-old boy they believe may have fled the residence. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake