Three Calgary men were put in Prince George handcuffs, and their Upper Mud River Road property put under police seal for allegedly running a drug plantation.
North District and Prince George municipal RCMP worked together (in conjunction with the federal CRIME Task Force) on the discovery of the marijuana grow-operation. Police allege it was the work of Christopher Kunze, 33, Thomas Heilman, 32, and Christopher Meeuws, 19, who have all been charged and released on bail to wait for further court action.
They were implicated on Tuesday at 9 a.m. when a squad of investigators brought a search warrant to a rural property about 25 kilometres west of Prince George.
"Officers located and seized approximately 1,400 marijuana plants and a large quantity of dried marijuana," said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass. "Three large diesel generators, a large excavator, a skid-steer tra ctor and a heav-duty pickup were also seized as offense-related property."
The three suspects were at the property when police showed up, and it is not anticipated that any further arrests will happen. Douglass said part of the ongoing investigation would be checking their respective history and whom they may be associated with. It did not appear, in these initial stages of the investigation, that there was any local help in the growing or the selling of marijuana from this property.
What is certain, he said, was how far beyond personal use this amount of marijuana amounted to.
"We believe that they are here from Calgary for the sole purpose of growing marijuana," he said. "The property was converted for the sole purpose of producing marijuana. Part of the property included an underground bunker. Although not currently being used, investigators believe that the purpose of this bunker was to grow marijuana."
