London Police blame cocaine and guns on pot

[BROKENFINGERS]

London police are on a pace to bust a record number of marijuana grow-ops in the city.

"If we stay on track, we will be well over 50 this year," said Det. Supt Ken Heslop, head of the criminal investigation unit.

"The numbers are definitely increasing and they're becoming more sophisticated."

In 2008, London police busted 32 grow operations and seized pot worth an estimated $9.255 million. Fifty people were arrested.

In 2009, they busted 42 grow-ops, and confiscated an estimated $15 million in pot. Seventy-one people were arrested.

So far this year, police have busted more than a dozen grow-ops, although not all have been publicized yet.

An average grow-op, discreetly stashed away in an ordinary house, can generate about $400,000 a year.

"It is a relatively easy way to make a lot of money," Heslop said. "I don't think we're getting anywhere near 50% of it. There are a lot more out there we're not getting."

So far this year, police have busted operations of as few as 19 plants and as many as 1,390, in new suburban houses and in strip malls, some with the traditional lights in the ceiling over hundreds of plants. More rare are operations employing the grow wheel -- a giant, rotisserie-like open barrel lined with baby plants that revolve around a bright, cylinder-shaped light.

In a Free Press series starting Friday, police explain how the crooks running grow-ops are getting better at blending into neighbourhoods.

"A lot of the telltale signs we used to tell people to look for are no longer there," Heslop said.

Untrimmed lawns, tampered hydro meters outside, vacant rooms -- the usual signs of grow-ops are becoming things of the past, he said.

Grow operators are learning to look more like ordinary neighbours.

London police recognize the ambivalent attitude many Canadians have toward marijuana use, he said.

But in this city, the large grow-ops -- those with about 400 plants or more -- are exporting marijuana to the U.S.

Coming back are cocaine and guns, Heslop said.

"That is something people should think about."

By RANDY RICHMOND, The London Free Press

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2010/04/08/13513036.html#/news/london/2010/04/08/pf-13507676.html

 

[Yes4Prop215]

hahahahah "cocaine and guns" man the UK government really has no shame.

Yea...im callin my buddy in UK so he can ship me some of his stuff, and in return il send him a couple AKs haha.

We got plenty of weed in the US already i doubt its being exported here..thats total horseshit.

 

[digital]

That article is actually about London, Ontario. The "hydro meter" and "many Canadians" references, as well as the other main page news article tip this information off.

So it's very likely that their pot is being exported to the US.

 

[JeanTonerre]

yayo, its London in ontario, and yes canadian export weed to the US, 2/3 of the canadian production is shipped to the US. i think what they mean by Cocaine and Gun, is : now you got the 400 000 $ /year harvesting ya weed, you can play in the cocaine game, and then, you need gun.