FruityBud
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- Jun 21, 2007
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A firsthand look into the remnants of a marijuana grow operation nestled in a family neighbourhood.
Its an unusually sunny October morning as police dressed in blue hazmat suits bustle in and out of a white bungalow on a quiet North York street.
Passersby watch half-interested, as high-powered fans are dumped onto the front lawn, along with a growing pile of 1,000-watt light bulbs, a generator and half a dozen waist high bags filled with marijuana plants.
An intrigued kid walks by, stops, and asks to take a photo of the crime scene, but an officer good-naturedly tells him to keep walking.
Its an all-too common scene for Drug Squad Detective Sergeant David Malcolm, who along with his team, are working to gather evidence hours after their latest indoor marijuana grow-op bust.
Its a large one as far as the size of it, Malcolm says, surveying the lawn. Were talking approximately 800 plants, which has a conservative street value of $800,000.
Its been in business for some time, Im going to say several months, if not probably a year.
Inside, officers sift through the ruins of the three-bedroom rental, gathering more evidence. In one corner, an officer saws locks off the doors.
In the garage, officers note a large rectangular hole carved into the cement wall, allegedly used to pass equipment and product from the car into the home without raising the suspicions of neighbours.
Theyll drive right into the garage, close the door so nobody sees them, then they access the house with everything they need to grow the marijuana that way, says Detective Constable Mike Bowmaster, standing in the garage.
In essence what theyre doing is wrecking the foundation of the house.
In many ways the corner home is like any other.
The living room is furnished with a black-and-white dining room set, and an entertainment system. Stuffed animals sit on couches next to a window.
But as Bowmaster explains during a tour of the home, the items are likely just a ruse, a home staging with a shady purpose.
There is little evidence that anyone actually lived in the home on a daily basis, Bowmaster points out, noting cobwebs on the television screen, and a sparse amount of clothing hanging in one bedroom. Some food sits in Tupperware dishes in a refrigerator, next to chocolate bars. One of the few items still standing in the mess that is the kitchen are cans of Budweiser lining the windowsill.
A bedroom at the rear of the house displays the homes real use.
The floor is covered with pots and loose soil, where police discovered 310 marijuana plants in varying stages of growth. Hanging from the ceiling are five makeshift lamps. The lamps remain covered with mylar plastic and tin foil, reflective material that helps create optimal spring-like growing conditions. Excessive moisture in the room has caused mould to grow in one corner and the paint has begun to peel.
Bowmaster says illegal growers take a big risk when they bypass the homes hydro meter to steal electricity, pointing to a network of exposed wires that run through several rooms.
The risk for these to catch fire is huge, he says. This stuff is not put together by a licensed electrician.
Other dangers lurk in the darkened basement.
In a dingy bathroom, a garbage can full of an unknown liquid sits in the bathtub.
Large bottles of chemical fertilizer sit in another room, bags of soil piled to one side. More wires, tightly wrapped together with zip ties, are affixed overhead.
Once all the evidence is collected, the front door is boarded up.
Now it will be up to the landowner, or Torontos municipal licensing and standards to decide whether the property can be remediated. If it cant be fixed, the home will be bulldozed to the ground.
Outside, Malcolm has one message to landlords: protect your property.
Theyre looking for homes that are rental properties exactly like this and theyll rent it, take advantage of the homeowner and then theyll do this to the interior of their home, he said.
The homeowner takes the hardest hit, although they are rarely involved or even aware that their tennants are running a grow-op.
But have they done their due diligence in protecting their investment? Im going to say in this case, no.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/6mfybs
Its an unusually sunny October morning as police dressed in blue hazmat suits bustle in and out of a white bungalow on a quiet North York street.
Passersby watch half-interested, as high-powered fans are dumped onto the front lawn, along with a growing pile of 1,000-watt light bulbs, a generator and half a dozen waist high bags filled with marijuana plants.
An intrigued kid walks by, stops, and asks to take a photo of the crime scene, but an officer good-naturedly tells him to keep walking.
Its an all-too common scene for Drug Squad Detective Sergeant David Malcolm, who along with his team, are working to gather evidence hours after their latest indoor marijuana grow-op bust.
Its a large one as far as the size of it, Malcolm says, surveying the lawn. Were talking approximately 800 plants, which has a conservative street value of $800,000.
Its been in business for some time, Im going to say several months, if not probably a year.
Inside, officers sift through the ruins of the three-bedroom rental, gathering more evidence. In one corner, an officer saws locks off the doors.
In the garage, officers note a large rectangular hole carved into the cement wall, allegedly used to pass equipment and product from the car into the home without raising the suspicions of neighbours.
Theyll drive right into the garage, close the door so nobody sees them, then they access the house with everything they need to grow the marijuana that way, says Detective Constable Mike Bowmaster, standing in the garage.
In essence what theyre doing is wrecking the foundation of the house.
In many ways the corner home is like any other.
The living room is furnished with a black-and-white dining room set, and an entertainment system. Stuffed animals sit on couches next to a window.
But as Bowmaster explains during a tour of the home, the items are likely just a ruse, a home staging with a shady purpose.
There is little evidence that anyone actually lived in the home on a daily basis, Bowmaster points out, noting cobwebs on the television screen, and a sparse amount of clothing hanging in one bedroom. Some food sits in Tupperware dishes in a refrigerator, next to chocolate bars. One of the few items still standing in the mess that is the kitchen are cans of Budweiser lining the windowsill.
A bedroom at the rear of the house displays the homes real use.
The floor is covered with pots and loose soil, where police discovered 310 marijuana plants in varying stages of growth. Hanging from the ceiling are five makeshift lamps. The lamps remain covered with mylar plastic and tin foil, reflective material that helps create optimal spring-like growing conditions. Excessive moisture in the room has caused mould to grow in one corner and the paint has begun to peel.
Bowmaster says illegal growers take a big risk when they bypass the homes hydro meter to steal electricity, pointing to a network of exposed wires that run through several rooms.
The risk for these to catch fire is huge, he says. This stuff is not put together by a licensed electrician.
Other dangers lurk in the darkened basement.
In a dingy bathroom, a garbage can full of an unknown liquid sits in the bathtub.
Large bottles of chemical fertilizer sit in another room, bags of soil piled to one side. More wires, tightly wrapped together with zip ties, are affixed overhead.
Once all the evidence is collected, the front door is boarded up.
Now it will be up to the landowner, or Torontos municipal licensing and standards to decide whether the property can be remediated. If it cant be fixed, the home will be bulldozed to the ground.
Outside, Malcolm has one message to landlords: protect your property.
Theyre looking for homes that are rental properties exactly like this and theyll rent it, take advantage of the homeowner and then theyll do this to the interior of their home, he said.
The homeowner takes the hardest hit, although they are rarely involved or even aware that their tennants are running a grow-op.
But have they done their due diligence in protecting their investment? Im going to say in this case, no.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/6mfybs
