Underground grow-op found under fake horse paddock - Action News
Home WebMail Thursday, November 14, 2024, 04:43 PM | Calgary | 6.6°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
British Columbia

Underground grow-op found under fake horse paddock

Special investigators have put a $10-million dent in the profits of outlaw motorcycle gangs in the Fraser Valley after busting four marijuana grow-ops, including one in an elaborately disguised underground bunker.

Fake fire pit, dog house and horse paddock all hid underground operation

Police with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia busted this underground grow-op in rural Mission, along with three other related grow-ops Friday, May 3. (CFSEU-BC)

Special investigators have put a $10-million dent in the profits of outlaw motorcycle gangs in the Fraser Valley after busting four marijuana grow-ops, including one in an elaborately disguised underground bunker.

Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, spokesman for B.C.'s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit,said the grow-ops were all in rural Mission, and wereall linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs, includingthe Hells Angels.

Houghton said that of the four grow-ops that were shut down Friday, a bunker at a property off De Graff road stood out as one of the mostsophisticated operations B.C. police have ever seen.

Mission grow-op busts

  • 10000 block Sylvester Road
  • 14000 block Sylvester Road
  • 12000 block Dewdney Trunk Road
  • 13000 block De Graff Road

"The people went so far as to construct a fake horse paddock and stable overtop of this bunker. Officers walking up to it initially thought it looked exactly like a horse paddock would but it is, in effect, just a movie set," Houghton said.

Venting for the underground greenhouse was camouflaged by a fire pit and "a fake dog house made out of beautiful wood," he said.

Houghton also said the grow-op properties each had a natural gas generator, worth an estimated $100,000 apiece.

"Enough to power a large Metro Vancouver hospital or even small northern towns," Houghton said.

Police had to bring ina crane to remove the generators from the properties.

Police said the horse paddock on the property looked real enough, but was fabricated solely to disguise the underground grow-op bunker. (CFSEU-BC)

Houghton said that police seized over 10,000 live plants and200 lbsof dried marijuana, together worth between $5 millionand $10 million;$1 million's worth of equipment and $20,000 cash.

"These are not the classic marijuana grows in a closet in the basement or even ones seen in typical residential homes.

"We are talking about large, highly sophisticated grows that are using the latest technology to boost the growing cycle as well as extremely high levels of security to keep the grow operation concealed from both the police and, more importantly from the grower's perspective, from organizations that exist almost solely to steal or 'rip' grow-operations,"Houghton said in a written statement.

Five men in their 30s suspectedof being caretakers for the grow-opswere arrested, includinga 34-year-oldwho is suspected of being the caretaker of the whole operation. He was taken into custody in a home in the 4500 block of206th Avenue in Langley.

"For the owners of these grows, it is all about creating an easy, untaxed, very lucrative income stream from the production of marijuana. Its all about money and, in this case, we believe that money is associated to organized crime," Houghton said in a written statement.

The men were all released from custody while drug-related charges are being considered.

The entrance to the underground bunker is a hatch in the floor of the hay storage area. Venting systems were disguised by a fire pit and a dog house, police said. (CFSEU-BC)

With files from the CBC's Luke Brocki