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WILLIAMS LAKE -- The site of the largest marijuana grow-op ever subject to civil forfeiture action -- one that could have produced more than 22,000 plants in a year -- has now been forfeited to the province, Solicitor-General John van Dongen announced Tuesday.
"Grow-ops and related, organized crime present serious risks to public safety, and this latest, successful case shows the Province and RCMP are serious about suppressing unlawful and harmful activity wherever it occurs," said van Dongen, in a news release. "No community wants grow-ops and their various, associated dangers. We're working hard with police to take away instruments of unlawful activity and, in turn, its profitability."
In November 2006, Williams Lake RCMP discovered 5,566 marijuana plants in a house and two adjacent structures on a Cedar Creek Road property in Likely, about 100 kilometres north of Williams Lake. Nearly every room was structurally modified, with extensive, unapproved wiring installed to power 137 high-intensity discharge lamps, creating serious safety issues for the occupants and police.
Inside the Cedar Creek Road grow-op, nearly every room was structurally modified and rewired.
The land and buildings involved were forfeited to the province in a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision and will be sold, with proceeds paid to the province. It is the first northern B.C. property forfeited.
"Civil forfeiture is an increasingly valuable tool that helps us to dismantle the nuts and bolts of unlawful activity and make northern communities safer," said Const. Craig Douglass, spokesman for the North District RCMP.
Douglass noted that in a year the Likely grow-op could have produced one marijuana cigarette for everyone in the province.
In the two years since the act came into force, the province has prevailed in 30 cases and seen more than $4 million in cash, vehicles and other valuable property forfeited.
Amendments this spring make property used for unlawful activity that is likely to cause serious bodily harm, like drunk driving, or likely to generate profit, such as marijuana cultivation, subject to civil forfeiture proceedings.
Staff Reporter, The Province
Published: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
© The Vancouver Province 2008
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