Pubdate: Tue, 12 Sep 2006
Source: Lindsay Daily Post (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 Lindsay Daily Post
Contact:  http://www.thepost.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2333
Author: Jason Bain
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada)

ARMED SUSPECT AT $2M GROW OP

Provincial police called out the big guns when they found an armed
suspect at a $2-million marijuana grow operation south of Bobcaygeon
Monday morning.

An OPP helicopter circled repeatedly overhead as several of the
force's special units were called to a property on the east side of
Pigeon Lake Road north of Peller Court around 8:30 a.m.

Executing a drug search warrant on the property, officers had found
about 2,000 marijuana plants and a gun-toting suspect who would remain
the target of their search throughout the day.

No one had been arrested at press time.

A perimeter was set up around the property as police looked for the
suspect and any others in the area, which sits just north of the
upscale Pigeon Lake subdivision Rolling Hills. Residents there were
told to stay in their houses, media relations officer Const. Mark
Boileau said at the scene.

Residents not absolutely having to get in through Peller Court were
asked not to do so by an officer at the community entrance. Media were
not allowed in either.

Before it was confirmed that an armed suspect had been spotted,
Boileau said the special units were called in because the situation
"dictated" such a response.

"Obviously there is a concern for officer safety," he told
reporters.

The warrant was executed by the Kawartha Combined Forces Drug Unit
before the OPP Tactics and Rescue Unit, Emergency Response Team,
canine unit and the OPP helicopter were summoned. Police vehicles
lined Pigeon Lake Road, some with several officers holding posts along
the property perimeter.

The $2 million estimated value of the grow operation comes from the
commonly-used formula that puts the street value of each plant at
about $1,000.

Monday's was the third large marijuana seizure in the Kawartha Lakes
in four days.

On Friday, another smaller operation was found in the same area and a
"large amount" was confiscated from a vehicle stopped by police on
Kawartha Lakes 121, Boileau said. A truck had been spotted pulling
all-terrain vehicles out of the bush. 
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