-from mykawartha.com-

By Mary Riley

Twenty men face charges after police raided a marijuana grow operation worth an estimated $3 million.
OPP Superintendant Frank Elbers held a press conference in Lindsay on Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by duffel bags bursting with pot and weapons police seized during the raid.
He said that on Monday afternoon, the Kawartha and Huronia Combined Forces Drug Unit found the grow operation in an area near Highway 118, about 15 km west of Carnarvon in Minden Hills Township.
Officers seized 1,500 pounds of marijuana, two loaded handguns and a Taser stun gun. A further 200 marijuana plants were found still growing on the property.
Several of the suspects were wearing body armour, which police also seized.
Supt. Elders, who heads the OPP’s Drug Enforcement Section, said when officers arrived on a secondary road in the area, “numerous” suspects fled in all directions.
Several jumped into a rowboat and tried to escape, but were later caught.
Police say 10 men were arrested at the scene without incident and 10 more were arrested that evening.
Eighteen of the accused, who face numerous drug and weapons charges, are from the Toronto area. Two are from Peterborough.
Supt. Elbers said police are “very concerned with the growing number of armed suspects” police face when busting grow-ops.
“It is dangerous for police officers and dangerous for the public,” he said.
The officer commented part of the grow operation problem in Canada is the exportation of marijuana to the U.S. “It’s a major cash crop that is exchanged for cocaine and cash.”
He also mentioned the lighter sentences in Canada, compared with the American justice system.
“[American] sentences (for drug offences) escalate with the amount seized,” he said. “[Offenders] can be looking at serious, serious jail time.”
“In the last four years, grow operations have skyrocketed,” he continued. “There’s just so much money to be had.”
In the same time period, police have seized about 3,000 weapons.
Supt. Elbers said the Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton areas are prime growing regions for marijuana, and encouraged residents to be careful. He said criminal organizations sometimes purchase rural property to grow large quantities of marijuana.
Others use Crown land or simply start a grow-op on a large, private acreage for example, a farm whose owners don’t ‘patrol’ every corner.
“We get farmers’ calls after they find [pot] growing among the corn,” he said.
He warned of booby-trapped properties and cautioned against confronting strangers.
“People in small towns know everyone, and they need to be aware. If you see strangers coming and going, especially in farm or wooded areas, call the police. Be careful walking through the bush, and if you see something suspicious, don’t try and handle it yourself.”