Pubdate: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 Source: Intelligencer, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2006, Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://www.intelligencer.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2332 Author: Michelle Thompson Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada) THE HOME THAT GRASS BUILT When police descended into the basement of a Stonebridge Crescent house last week, they found what they were looking for. Close to 2,000 marijuana plants were growing beneath a 1,000-watt lighting system. There were plastic garbage cans filled with fertilizer and shelves neatly lined with bottles of chemicals that "promote growth." There was a chart, written in Chinese, ostensibly used to document the various growth stages of plants, police said. Project Longarm officers used a warrant to search the 16 Stonebridge Cres. residence last Wednesday and reported finding all the ingredients of a grow operation inside. Police confiscated about $2 million worth of marijuana and "offense related property." Belleville police Det. Mark Harry was among the team of seven Project Longarm officers who raided the residence. He said the upper-level was devoid of anything that might have helped make the house a home. "There was no furniture, there was no food. There was nothing in the cupboards," he said. "That signifies that nobody was living in that environment." Although most of the plants were kept in the basement, Harry said the laundry room upstairs was converted to a cloning room. Inside it, about 200 baby plants were growing beneath fluorescent lights. Police also discovered the master bedroom's walk-in closet, upstairs, had been converted into a ventilation room. Downstairs was where Project Longarm officers hit the jackpot. Pots of marijuana plants, surrounded by fans, neatly lined the basement beneath a 1,000-watt lighting system, powered by a series of ballasts. "They probably had that light (system) on close to 24 hours a day," Harry said. All of the plants in the house were on timers, he said, and lights were programmed to remain on until plants reached maturity. "It is the absence of the light that helps them mature in their time cycle," Harry said. Since marijuana plants grow toward light, Harry said the lights hung from the ceiling from metal chains that could be adjusted to accommodate them as they grew. A hole was drilled through the basement's cinder block wall and the electrical lines were tampered with, Staff-Sgt. Mike Graham said. Marijuana grow operations cause soaring hydro bills and to avoid alerting suspicion and over-the-top costs growers sometimes tap into power lines and steal electricity. Graham said that appeared to have been the case inside 16 Stonebridge Cres. and Harry quipped that the growers likely didn't hire professionals to help them with the job. "I'd venture to say it's not a certified electrician that was putting this together," Harry said. Tampered-with electrical lines make an already dangerous job more risky when officers raid suspected drug dens, Graham said. "When the drug guys go in, they're dealing with chemicals, they're dealing with potentially dangerous electrical hook-ups, possible booby-traps," he said. "We don't know what to expect." Risks aren't the only costs tagged onto such operations, Graham said. When a grower begins an operation, he said, the whole economy pays for their under-the-table business. "It's a drain on resources," he said. "There's a loss to the utility company, mortgage company, bank, neighbourhood, law enforcement team. It's very expensive (for police)." Harry said he suspects the owners of the home began renovating it almost immediately after purchasing it in April. Before it becomes home to a new family, he said, it will require extensive cleaning. "There's the potential for mold and mildew and things like that," he said. "I don't think it's going to be bulldozed." Most of the houses on Stonebridge Crescent, part of the West Park Village, were constructed about six years ago and Harry said marijuana growers are beginning to find newer homes appealing. "I think the newer neighbourhoods are more advantageous," he said. "They have larger basements with less obstructions, higher ceilings... that type of thing." Graham wouldn't say how officers discovered the grow-operation, although he did confirm that officers had been monitoring the house. "It came to our attention through various investigative techniques," he said. Charged in connection with last Wednesday's raid is Zhen He Chen, 42, of Scarborough. He faces a number of charges including being in a possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, theft of electricity and being in possession of property obtained by crime. Project Longarm is a joint-forces drug enforcement team consisting of officers from various OPP detachments including Quinte West, Bancroft, Centre Hastings and Prince Edward and the Belleville police. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake