Pubdate: Wed, 26 Oct 2005
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Natalie Pona, staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

DID POT CREW KNOW?

27 Immigrants Busted At Grow-Op

Twenty-seven Chinese immigrants were driven non-stop from Toronto to a
rural Manitoba town to work around the clock at a marijuana grow-op --
and some claim they were tricked into it.

"They don't know the mess they've gotten into and they're afraid of
the trouble this will cause their families," said Winnipeg defence
lawyer Greg Brodsky, who is representing two of the workers.

His clients refused to talk to the Sun out of fear of retribution, he
said.

Twenty-eight Chinese workers -- one from Vancouver -- were arrested
Oct. 7 at a tiny farmhouse in Sundown, 130 km southeast of Winnipeg.
Three were women and most only speak Cantonese, Manitoba RCMP
spokesman Sgt. Steve Colwell said. All have been charged with
possession and production of pot.

TRANSLATORS

The workers were found sleeping head to head on the farmhouse floor,
said Winnipeg defence lawyer Mark Wasyliw.

"They were packed into this little farmhouse. I don't know if these
people have been used. But it looks like they have been."

It's been tough to arrange for translators, he said. Even police have
little to go on.

"If there was somebody who was a boss who's hidden amongst them, I
wouldn't know that yet. I don't think the police would even know
that," Wasyliw said.

The Sundown raid was the first of several busts targeting an organized
crime group with links to Toronto and Vancouver, Colwell said. He
wouldn't comment further on the investigation.

At least some of the Sundown workers were duped, Toronto Councillor
Olivia Chow suspects.

"This is the life of immigrants in Canada," she said. "There are those
preying on these people who are desperate for jobs."

Some workers had been promised a two-week stint on a legitimate farm,
said Joseph Du, president of the Winnipeg Chinese Cultural Centre, who
has talked with the workers. Many left minimum-wage jobs for the
promise of easy money, he said.

'BETTER PAY'

"They said it's not hard work, they'll look after some plants. It was
for better pay than working in a Toronto restaurant," he said, and
they didn't know they would be committing a crime.

"Obviously the people recruiting wouldn't say anything or you'd have
to pay a hell of a lot more to have them risk their lives," he said.
He didn't know what they were paid.

Getting bail has been a struggle, said defence lawyer Wendy Martin
White. Her client, Huan Kew Zheng, 46, had to get $10,000 cash from an
uncle for bail, she said.

Zheng, who has no criminal record, had been working long hours as a
cook in a Toronto restaurant, she said, but that didn't compare to
what he faced at the farm.

"They were in conditions that many Canadians would be surprised
existed."

At Zheng's Toronto home on Poucher St. near Gerrard St. and Pape Ave.,
residents refused to answer the front door last night, although the
lights were on and someone was visible inside.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin