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Pot busts paying off

You have to take your shoes off to count the number of major drug busts in the Prince George area since the new year dawned.
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You have to take your shoes off to count the number of major drug busts in the Prince George area since the new year dawned. It has been a steady flow of guns and grow-ops being seized by the RCMP, with two more marijuana plantations located on Sunday.

Prince George RCMP Insp. Chris Bomford told The Citizen this is not some major operation or focus period, these busts could go on and on because they are being initiated by the Mounties on the street.

"We have a very young and enthusiastic and hard working crew, both general duty and plainclothes," Bomford said. "We have some senior members mentoring them, and they are out knocking on doors or knocking in doors. With marijuana it is hard to quickly flush 60 pounds so you can knock first."

The two latest warrants were executed on rural properties near the city. Both were houses. Police believe the two operations to be connected, but the investigation is not yet definitive.

What is certain is one house contained two males and one female, plus 60 pounds of cropped and bagged marijuana ready for transport, plus another 550 plants in growth stage.

The other house had one male inside, with 300 plants in various stages of growth.

Neither house contained weapons or children, both had wiring alterations to steal BC Hydro's power.

Bomford said all of those arrested were recent arrivals to Prince George, none of them known to police for prior infractions of the law. Mounties are now tracing their origins. Bomford said it might be that at least one and maybe more are members of an ethnic group from outside Canada. Citizenship is one of the elements they are investigating.

"The houses were not owned by the same person, but we are still determining if the owner of either home was in the house at the time," he said. "If you look at this from a big business point of view, all the more reason to employ people to look after your grow-op who are not typically connected to crime. That's good from the business point of view but not so good for the poor suspect who has been caught."

Bomford said these grow-ops had many hallmarks of connections to organized crime, but that too was still to be determined.

As with many of the recent busts, these two were as a result of public information that was called in to either Crime Stoppers or directly to the Prince George detachment.

Vanderhoof RCMP seized a large quantity of packaged marihuana along with about 440 plants and equipment Saturday at residences located on Phillips Road and Comtois Place in the Cluculz Lake area.

Charges for production and trafficking in a controlled substance are pending.

Anyone with possible information can pass that on by calling the RCMP at 250-561-3300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS / www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca.