Cops bust grow-op supplier
York cops lay 200 charges
By ROB LAMBERTI, SUN MEDIA
The Toronto Sun
"A vast amount of marijuana grow equipment was seized during a two-year investigation, named Project Tropical Storm, which resulted in the seizure of $8 million dollars worth of illegal narcotics. (Dave Abel/Sun Media)
EAST GWILLIMBURY -- It took two years but a complete service marijuana shop that helped clandestine growers has been shut down, York Region narcotics officers say.
Police said yesterday they arrested two people who owned Tropical Distribution, a hydroponic business, one employee and 28 marijuana grow operators who bought equipment from the Concord company during the course of Project Tropical Storm. They face more than 200 drug-related and criminal charges.
Drug cops suspect there are other hydroponic shops that are helping out marijuana growers and police say they are "on our radar screens."
"There are not that many watermelons and vegetables being grown in Ontario to satisfy the needs of some of these stores," York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge said.
ACTED AS BROKER
"Clearly you can see some of the product names and there is no doubt to the market they are serving."
The company is alleged to have supplied the material and savvy to grow marijuana, and at times acted as a broker between farmers and dealers.
Police seized $12.5 million worth of dope and $250,000 in property during the project, launched in October 2006.
Members of the drugs and vice unit began focusing on the Edgeley Blvd. business in January 2007, and even told the two owners and one employee that police were interested in the business.
Cops shut down 19 grow-ops -- all but one that relied on Tropical -- in Mississauga, Brampton, Toronto, Richmond Hill, Aurora, Newmarket and Vaughan during the course of the project. Authorities are in the process of seizing some of those homes, all of which are owned by the growers, as proceeds of crime.
One grower is also charged with fraud, allegedly arranging a $376,000 mortgage for a $385,000 house on Keffer Circle in Newmarket on false pretences. Police seized 346 plants at that house.
Detectives needed a tractor-trailer to carry the complete stock seized at the store and from the homes .
"We didn't hide it from" the Tropical staff, Det. Dieter Boeheim said of the investigation. "We went in there and talked to them, when we first started out, just to get a handle of what these people were all about."
Boeheim said drug officers kept watch on the business, and whenever the trail led to a grow-op, they would raid it.
Authorities were concerned about the chemical and fire hazards that the operations posed to the neighbourhoods, so police moved in quickly to dismantle the grow-ops.
Feeling the pressure from police, Tropical pulled up stakes from Concord last July and moved to 135 Ormont Dr. in North York.
"Pretty well, at that point, we knew what they were all about," Boeheim said.
Although the owners knew police were targeting them, they apparently didn't alter their business.
"It's a way of life," Boeheim alleged. "For some of these people, it's all they do."
The police presence and jail time is just the cost of doing business, he said.
Police raided the store on April 17, shutting it down and seizing all of its stock.
TARGETED SUPPLIER
It was the first time that York police targeted a supplier of grow operations.
Insp. Tom Carrique alleged the company was "engaged in supplying the operators" equipment, chemicals and knowledge needed to maintain marijuana crops.
Tropical also "attempted to work as brokers to facilitate sale and purchase" of both young plants and dried marijuana, he alleged.
The company offered "one-stop shopping, exactly," he said.
"This is not a police problem, it is a community problem," Carrique said. "We have to address the demand through the community and we have to address the supply through law enforcement."
Store owners Van Duong Le, 41, and wife Tu Cam Lam, 28, are charged with 18 counts each of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking, as well as 17 counts of theft of electricity.
Employee Dai Tho Le, 28, of Mississauga, is charged with production of a controlled substance, possession for the purpose, theft of electricity and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence."
I shop Home Depot.
York cops lay 200 charges
By ROB LAMBERTI, SUN MEDIA
The Toronto Sun
"A vast amount of marijuana grow equipment was seized during a two-year investigation, named Project Tropical Storm, which resulted in the seizure of $8 million dollars worth of illegal narcotics. (Dave Abel/Sun Media)
EAST GWILLIMBURY -- It took two years but a complete service marijuana shop that helped clandestine growers has been shut down, York Region narcotics officers say.
Police said yesterday they arrested two people who owned Tropical Distribution, a hydroponic business, one employee and 28 marijuana grow operators who bought equipment from the Concord company during the course of Project Tropical Storm. They face more than 200 drug-related and criminal charges.
Drug cops suspect there are other hydroponic shops that are helping out marijuana growers and police say they are "on our radar screens."
"There are not that many watermelons and vegetables being grown in Ontario to satisfy the needs of some of these stores," York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge said.
ACTED AS BROKER
"Clearly you can see some of the product names and there is no doubt to the market they are serving."
The company is alleged to have supplied the material and savvy to grow marijuana, and at times acted as a broker between farmers and dealers.
Police seized $12.5 million worth of dope and $250,000 in property during the project, launched in October 2006.
Members of the drugs and vice unit began focusing on the Edgeley Blvd. business in January 2007, and even told the two owners and one employee that police were interested in the business.
Cops shut down 19 grow-ops -- all but one that relied on Tropical -- in Mississauga, Brampton, Toronto, Richmond Hill, Aurora, Newmarket and Vaughan during the course of the project. Authorities are in the process of seizing some of those homes, all of which are owned by the growers, as proceeds of crime.
One grower is also charged with fraud, allegedly arranging a $376,000 mortgage for a $385,000 house on Keffer Circle in Newmarket on false pretences. Police seized 346 plants at that house.
Detectives needed a tractor-trailer to carry the complete stock seized at the store and from the homes .
"We didn't hide it from" the Tropical staff, Det. Dieter Boeheim said of the investigation. "We went in there and talked to them, when we first started out, just to get a handle of what these people were all about."
Boeheim said drug officers kept watch on the business, and whenever the trail led to a grow-op, they would raid it.
Authorities were concerned about the chemical and fire hazards that the operations posed to the neighbourhoods, so police moved in quickly to dismantle the grow-ops.
Feeling the pressure from police, Tropical pulled up stakes from Concord last July and moved to 135 Ormont Dr. in North York.
"Pretty well, at that point, we knew what they were all about," Boeheim said.
Although the owners knew police were targeting them, they apparently didn't alter their business.
"It's a way of life," Boeheim alleged. "For some of these people, it's all they do."
The police presence and jail time is just the cost of doing business, he said.
Police raided the store on April 17, shutting it down and seizing all of its stock.
TARGETED SUPPLIER
It was the first time that York police targeted a supplier of grow operations.
Insp. Tom Carrique alleged the company was "engaged in supplying the operators" equipment, chemicals and knowledge needed to maintain marijuana crops.
Tropical also "attempted to work as brokers to facilitate sale and purchase" of both young plants and dried marijuana, he alleged.
The company offered "one-stop shopping, exactly," he said.
"This is not a police problem, it is a community problem," Carrique said. "We have to address the demand through the community and we have to address the supply through law enforcement."
Store owners Van Duong Le, 41, and wife Tu Cam Lam, 28, are charged with 18 counts each of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking, as well as 17 counts of theft of electricity.
Employee Dai Tho Le, 28, of Mississauga, is charged with production of a controlled substance, possession for the purpose, theft of electricity and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence."
I shop Home Depot.
