Pubdate: Thu, 13 May 2010
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

POT GROWERS USE BUNKERS TO HIDE CROP

Pot growers in British Columbia are increasingly turning to 
sophisticated underground bunkers to hide their illicit crop from law 
enforcement agencies.

Sgt. Dave Goddard, of the RCMP's Greater Vancouver Drug Section, said 
the bunkers can be high-end -- with a concrete foundation, wiring and 
sensors -- or less sophisticated, like the hidden underground 
shipping containers found by police in Mission this week.

"They are doing everything possible to avoid detection and if it 
means relocating underground, absolutely -- we are seeing much more 
of this going on," Goddard said yesterday. "It has become much more 
prevalent not only here on the Lower Mainland, but up-country as 
well. We are also seeing more bunkers in the interior of British Columbia."

Mission RCMP Cpl. Raina Siou said officers were called to assist 
firefighters at a rural property Monday morning after a fire broke 
out in four large shipping containers full of pot and buried 
underground. More than 2,000 plants were located on the acreage that 
appears to be connected to a neighbouring property.

The growers would have needed both a backhoe and a crane to set up 
their operation, Siou said.

Last month, Abbotsford police uncovered an even more sophisticated 
bunker that they said had a retractable floor like something from an 
Indiana Jones movie. Police also found motion sensors and a cache of weapons.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom