CHESTERMERE – During the late afternoon of Thursday, Nov. 3, members of the Chestermere RCMP – with assistance from the RCMP Police Service Dog team and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (Green Team South) – executed a Controlled Substances and Drugs Act (CDSA) search warrant at a home in the East Lakeview area of town.
Force was used to enter the duplex after no response was made to the police demands for entry. The residents of the home were not located in either side of the duplex.
Inside the residence were soil-based hydroponic grows with approximately 2,000 marihuana plants in various stages of growth, said to be worth a street value estimated at around $2.5-million.
Staff Sgt. Glenn Henry said that the separate residences were joined in the middle with a common door, allowing free access to each side, although one side was hardly used. Both residences had both electrical and water bypasses.
Alberta Health Services conducted their assessment of the property and later determined it as unfit for habitation.
Henry said that they are currently aware of who owns the home, but are not certain if the owner is the person who was occupying the residence.
“There was no one there at the time, so we have seized everything and collected some fingerprints to try and link it to someone,” he said.
He said that the investigation will continue as local RCMP members seek to confirm the identity of the those responsible.
Henry said that they had been investigating the residence by conducting power-meter readings and from gaining information from neighbours.
This is the fifth grow operation to be discovered in Chestermere this year. Henry said that he is disappointed that they have found so many, but that he is not disappointed in the work that the members of the local detachment are doing to find them.
“The message that we’re trying to get across is that if you have it, we will find it,” he said. “Its’ disappointing that we’ve found five this year, but the message remains the same.
“If we come across them we definitely have the skills to deal with them, and we’ve shown that these last five. If you’ve got them, we’ll find them.”
The Chestermere RCMP are asking anyone with information about this crime or any other to contact them at tel:(403) 204-8777″403-204-8777 or Crime Stoppers at HYPERLINK “tel:1-800-222-8477″1-800-222-8477 or through the internet at www.tipsubmit.com.
Crime stoppers will pay cash rewards up to $2,000 for information that leads to an arrest, the recovery of stolen property or seizure of illegal drugs. Crime Stoppers does not subscribe to call display and the identity of the caller will remain anonymous.
