Wycinki z marihuana

T.O. man arrested in giant marijuana raid

IROQUOIS FALLS (CP) - A Toronto man has been charged in a massive marijuana operation considered to be one of the country's largest. Police found more than 21,000 marijuana plants behind a home east of Timmins. Ji Zhu Chu, 39. was arrested at the scene ("Canada Briefs", TORONTO SUN, Tuesday, July 26, 2005).

Drug smugglers had tunnel to U.S.
SEATTLE (AP) - U.S. government agents have shut down a drug-smuggling tunnel built under the Canadian border between Langley, B.C., and Lynden, Wash., a government source said yesterday.
Authorities has been monitoring construction of the tunnel for eight months and sealed it yesterday, shortly after it opened, making three to five arrests in the process, said the source, who had been briefed by local law-enforcement officials.
The exact length of the tunnel was not known. It ran from a building on the Canadian side to a house on the U.S. side, 90 metres form the border, the source said.
The source said the investigation was handled largely by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI ( TORONTO SUN, Tuesday, July 26, 2005).

TUNEL DO PRZEMYTU

Langley W czwartek wladze amerykanskie oskarzyly trzech mieszkancow miejscowosci Surrey w Kolumbii Brytyjskiej o zbudowanie tunelu laczacego dwa budynki po przeciwnych stronach granicy kanadyjsko-amerykanskiej.
Podkop sluzyl do przemytu narkotykow - zwlaszcza zas do transportowania cenionej w USA marihuany pochodzacej z Kolumbii Brytyjskiej. 110-metrowy tunal zaczynal sie na przedmiesciach Vancouveru, a konczyl w domu w Lynden w stanie Waszyngton. Konstrukcja polaczenia biegnacego na glebokosci od 1 do dwoch metrow umocniona zostala stalowymi pretami i drewnianym oszalowaniem.
Zdaniem ekspertow amerykanskich, wykonanie tunelu zajelo oskarzonym mezczyznom ponad rok. Policja uwaza, ze tunel nie byl dlugo wykorzystywany.
Ukonczono go na poczatku lipca, i wowczas tez zauwazono podejrzanych mezczyzn przenoszacych worki z marihuana (GONIEC, Toronto 22-28 lipca 2005).

Doper calls cops
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A Texas man was arrested yesterday after calling police to complain about the theft of his marijuana, police said.
Stephen Knight, 17, said three men broke into his apartment, hogtied him with Christmas lights and stole some marijuana and a plasma screen television (TORONTO SUN, Tuesday, July 26, 2005).

U.S. ready to seal off B.C. drug tunnel
CAMILLE BAINS
CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER - Officials in the United States' Drug Enforcement Administration are working to permanently seal off a tunnel constructed to smuggle marijuana from British Columbia.
Joe Giuliano, deputy chief of Border Patrol in Blaine, Wash., said yesterday that military and law enforcement personnel are discussing the use of a hardening foam that would be injected into the tunnel to close it off.
"Digging through that will be a heck of a lot harder than digging through the dirt in the first place," Giuliano said. "I'm pretty confident that it's down for the count once that stuff goes in."
American officials had been monitoring the construction of the 110-metre tunnel since earlier this year after Canadian border personnel alerted them to the possibility that a tunnel was being dug between the two countries.
A joint investigation revealed that three B.C. men were allegedly involved in building the tunnel, equipped with electricity, ventilation, wood supports and ribbed steel bars to reinforce it.
Construction was finished earlier this month, and U.S. police arrested the Surrey, B.C., men last week after they smuggled across a load of pot.
The tunnel stretched from a metal hut in Langley, B.C., to a point underneath the living room of a vacant house in Lynden, Wash., where police had installed cameras and microphones.
Giuliano said he has three times the staff since the Sept.11,2001 terror attacks on the U.S. to be eyes and ears at the border crossing in Blaine.
Conservative MP Mark Warawa (Langley), who toured the property where the elaborate tunnel began, said Canada needs to follow the U.S. example and increase the number of RCMP officers between border points.
"Without adequate resources we can't adequatly protect Canada," he said. More U.S. cocaine, often exchanged for B.C. marijuana, could have made its way back to Canada had the tunnel not been discovered, he said. "These people are not sneaking in jugs of milk."
RCMP Supt. Bill Ard, who is in charge of border integrity, said that unlike the U.S. where borders are patrolled, the RCMP does no such job (TORONTO STAR, Tuesday, July 26, 2005).

Trouble down under as alleged pot growers dig bunker next to MP's farm

Alleged marijuana growers in Chilliwack went down to get high, digging a massive underground bunker to house their operation next door to B.C. MP Chuck Strahl's hobby farm. Police say four suspects dug a hole 30 metres long, 15 metres wide and at least 2.5 metres deep in the backyard of a home they were renting in the Ryder Lake area. Twenty officers descended on the grow-op on Wednesday morning after a tip from an undisclosed source. Police found 570 "monster" marijuana plants worth at least $500,000 and approximately $200,000 worth of growing equipment. Mr. Strahl said the land is wooded and the suspect's driveway about 300 metres long, making it impossible to see what's happening on the property. Matthew Ramsey, CanWest News Service (NATIONAL POST, Friday, July 22, 2005)