Pubdate: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 Source: Telegraph, The (Nashua, NH) Copyright: 2006 Telegraph Publishing Company Contact: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/885 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) POT BUST LIKENED TO CANADIAN 'GROW-OPS' CONCORD (AP) - A massive marijuana-growing enterprise involving about a dozen houses and thousands of plants worth tens of millions of dollars wasn't just the state's largest. State and federal law enforcement authorities say the bust also represents the movement south of a Canadian trend of sophisticated indoor growing operations working out of middle-to-affluent residential neighborhoods. "This is a trend we had been seeing in Canada for as long as I have been a U.S. attorney," Tom Colantuono, New Hampshire's federal prosecutor since 2001, said Thursday. "We were very concerned that this might move south across the border and the fact that it has is very disturbing." In Canada, the prevalence of grow houses has prompted some police agencies to create task forces solely dedicated to fighting indoor marijuana "grow-ops." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police dedicates sections of its Web site - www.rcmp.ca - with tip sheets for landlords on how to avoid grow op tenants and how to spot a grow house. Some signs: Covered windows, localized power surges and brown outs, the smell of marijuana and the sounds of electrical humming, fans and trickling water. It is too early to know how far the New Hampshire operation spread and whether it had any international ties, but authorities are confident at least 13 houses discovered in the last two months are connected in some way. The trail began in October when firefighters responding to an electrical fire in a Hooksett house discovered 700 marijuana plants in a basement tricked out as a hydroponic greenhouse. The major bust came Wednesday, when 200 people from local, state and federal agencies raided 11 houses in Concord, Derry, Pembroke, Andover, Chester, Weare, Hopkinton, Londonderry, and Canterbury. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake