Pubdate: Tue, 19 Dec 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

'POT PIRATES' WORRY POLICE

KAWARTHA LAKES - Cops are growing increasingly concerned over 
sometimes not being the only ones armed and wearing police uniforms.

An increase in the number of marijuana crops found this year guarded 
by 'pot pirates' wielding high-powered firearms and using booby traps 
has provincial police worried about public safety and their own.

City of Kawartha Lakes OPP found out just what that's like when they 
encountered a gun-toting male at a $5-million grow operation south of 
Bobcaygeon on Sept. 11. The man fled into the heavily-forested area 
near Pigeon Lake Road and no arrest was ever made.

"It's disturbing to us that people are not only growing this illegal 
substance but they are also taking steps to defend their crops," said 
Const. Mark Boileau, media relations officer for the local detachment.

A multi-billion dollar business, suspects will go to all extremes to 
protect their venture, or to steal someone else's, he said.

"When you are talking 5,000 plants, that's $5 million," he said.

In another situation where police came across a grow op east of 
Carnarvon in Haliburton County to the north, they also found more 
than they bargained for. The suspects, who would eventually be 
arrested and then processed in Lindsay, were found with bullet proof 
vests and hand guns.

Officers have seized every weapon imaginable at grow ops from machine 
guns to assault rifles, to detonator cords and blasting caps, police said.

In 2006, OPP destroyed some 138,993 marijuana plants and investigated 
or discovered 450 indoor and outdoor grows.

Over 20,000 plants alone were seized outdoors by the Kawartha 
Combined Drug Forces Unit, which works in the Kawartha Lakes and 
Peterborough and Northumberland county via OPP, Port Hope and 
Kawartha Lakes Police.

That number does not include the around 5,000 plants found at the 
Bobcaygeon-area grow, the largest crop found in the City of Kawartha 
Lakes this season, Boileau said.

Some 7,868 plants were found by the unit in a two-week span alone 
when they enlisted the help of a helicopter.

With winter fast approaching, officers will now continue to act on 
information as the focus turns to indoor grow operations and drug 
trafficking, Boileau said.

The public can also play a vital role in spotting illegal activity, he said.

Clues could be suspicious activity at a house such as strange 
vehicles, windows covered in heavy materials, unusual odours, suspect 
electrical upgrades and even just seeing things like lamps or 
fertilizer being taken inside, Boileau said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elaine