Pubdate: Sun, 11 Dec 2005
Source: Watertown Daily Times (NY)
Copyright: 2005 Watertown Daily Times
Contact:  http://www.wdt.net
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/792
Author: Carolyn Thompson, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States - News)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?216 (CN Police)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/grow+operations

BORDER AGENTS SEIZING TONS OF HYDROPONIC MARIJUANA

BUFFALO - It was just a truck full of frozen waffles, and its Canadian
driver was a card carrying member of FAST, the Free and Secure Trade
program that speeds the customs process for regulars at the border.

But experience told border officers to run the truck through their
gamma-ray equipment before sending it on its way to its North Carolina
destination.

The closer look revealed 1,152 vacuum-sealed bags containing 320
pounds of hydroponic marijuana tucked among the legitimate cargo.

The potent Canadian-grown marijuana was once mostly a West Coast find,
but has made significant inroads in the East as gangs and individuals
have stepped up to meet a robust U.S. demand.

During the fiscal year that ended in October, border agents seized
about 8,000 pounds of hydroponic marijuana at 17 crossings from
Buffalo to Champlain. In fiscal 2004, the number was 12,000 pounds, up
from just under 3,000 pounds a year earlier, said spokesman Kevin
Corsaro of the Customs and Border Protection's Buffalo field office.

"We've intercepted loads going to Florida, going to New York City,"
Corsaro said.

There have been larger seizures, like from the waffle truck Nov. 5,
whose driver, Daniel Herbert of Chatham, Ontario, faces charges. And
there were similar ones, like the mother and daughter bingo players
who authorities said were probably paid to smuggle 25 pounds in their
conversion van last year.

"There don't seem to be profiles any longer," said Vincent Salvatore,
group supervisor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Federal and local agencies pooled their resources during a yearlong
investigation that ended in July with the arrest of 21 people
suspected of being part of one Canada-to-New York smuggling run.

More than 140 law enforcement agents swarmed through 14 locations in
Erie and Niagara counties one morning and seizing about 10 pounds of
marijuana, 30 guns and $100,000 in cash.

"We believe we made the hit when they were getting ready to make a
drug run to Canada," ICE special agent in charge Peter Smith said.

Border officials linked eight to 10 seizures of hydroponic marijuana
to the drug ring in the 18 months before the raids. Intercepted phone
conversations shed light on what became of the drugs that made across
the border.

"I got, eh, two more copies of that CD," one alleged drug dealer tells
a potential customer, using a code.

"Yeah?" the customer responds in the conversation outlined in court
documents.

"Yeah, I had to beg for them," replies the suspect, Larry Masich of
Amherst, who is described as one of the operation's primary
distributors.

"How's the quality. Is the key .Does it sound good?"

"It's the exact same, the same CD."

The suspects face up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $1 million
if convicted of drug distribution and conspiracy charges.

The potency is what makes the Canadian -variety marijuana so much in
demand. Typical marijuana, grown in Mexico and other southern points,
has and average active chemical level of 8 percent. But hydroponic
growers have perfected techniques to raise the level of the chemical
THC - delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol - to 23 percent to 30 percent.

That also raises the value from about $800 a pound to $3,000 or more a
pound, Corsaro said.

Across the border, Ontario law enforcement officials have been
attacking the "grow houses" that produce the high-grade marijuana.
They estimate there are 15,000 indoor operations in their province
alone, and have been finding more plantation-size outdoor operations
cultivating 10,000 to 24,000 plants each.

"In the last three and a half years, we've destroyed over a million
marijuana plants," said Detective Inspector Frank Elbers, deputy
director of the Ontario Provincial Police drug enforcement section.
That includes 400,000 plants seized and destroyed from 600 locations
from January through September - about double the number in all of
last year, he said.

Canadian authorities last year shut down a huge growing operation
inside a former brewery in Barrie, Ontario, just north of Toronto.
Agents seized 30,000 plants valued at nearly $22.5 million in U.S.
funds.

But smaller operations are more the norm. Unlike stereotypical drug
houses in rough and tumble neighborhoods, these grow houses are often
located in affluent suburbs. The houses are rewired to accommodate the
large electricity demand and well-vented to hide the smell.

A 2002 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police examining marijuana
cultivation estimated the county's annual production at 800 tons and
linked most large-scale operations to organized crime, including
outlaw motorcycle gangs and Asian-based gangs. The hungry U.S. market
provides the incentive.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin