Pembroke grow-op largest ever in Canada - Details of police raid released at sentencing hearing of owner
By: Neco Cockburn, Ottawa Citizen (CN ON), 09-10-09

Nobody was home when police raided the house and farm south of Pembroke last year. It looked as if someone had left in a hurry.

The kitchen table contained three place settings and partially eaten food. Food was left in pots on the stove, and tire marks typical of speedy acceleration were seen in grass and gravel in front of the house located on the property.

Police found what they said was the largest marijuana grow operation in Canadian history: a whopping 40,040 plants grown among corn on the 43.3-hectare property. Thirty officers worked for five full days to remove plants by hand.

Further details of the bust emerged Wednesday during a sentencing hearing for Viet Phung Ha, 53, of Mississauga.

The facts of the case were read in court after Ha, wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, stood in the prisoner's box beside an interpreter and re-entered guilty pleas on charges of production of marijuana and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

A police officer called on to give expert testimony later said he believed the marijuana could have been headed to the United States.

Police executed a search warrant at the property two days after an officer received a confidential tip regarding a large grow operation on Sept. 16, 2008.

The tipster provided police with GPS information. Police went up in a helicopter around noon on Sept. 17 and little more than an hour later saw a "very large" grow operation at 1970 B-Line Rd., according to the statement of facts.

An officer in the helicopter saw two people working in the field. Harvested plants appeared to have been put on a trailer.

Police started surveillance of the property that afternoon and obtained a search warrant on Sept. 18. Officers entered the property shortly after 10:40 a.m.

The house was "generally untidy," the court heard. There was "little furniture throughout" and few or no personal items such as photographs or wallets.

However, there were clues about the farm's owner, such as bank documents. A movie entertainment magazine inside the house was addressed to Ha.

Large garbage bags, a list of numbers, cans of bear spray, and a set of scales were also found inside the home.

Police seized several pieces of machinery and equipment from the property, including a tractor, hopper, two trailers, a planter and combine. Serial numbers indicated Ha was the owner and buyer of some of the equipment, which had been purchased in Winchester in September 2006. Other machinery was bought in 2008.

Officers found two large kerosene heaters, as well as fans and drying racks made of spruce inside a drying room in the back of a garage next to the house. Two main rooms in the garage were set up as a marijuana cleaning operation and drying room.

From the garage, a yellow extension cord led to an electric water pump at the upper water pond. The pump pushed water via hoses to an above-ground pool in an elevated wooded area on the property, next to the cornfield. The pool contained water and chemicals, which appeared to have been dumped by hand and stirred with wooden boat paddles, court heard.

A plastic line was attached to another gas-powered water pump that fed an irrigation system throughout the field. Thousands of feet of hose wound among the plants.

Corn alone was grown in parts of the property that border the road, but marijuana started about 240 metres in.

Rows were planted close to each other. There were two corn plants for each marijuana plant in some areas, but, as a person ventured deeper into the area, marijuana plants became more prevalent and larger.

Plants ranged from four feet to eight feet tall. They were mature and healthy, police said.

Police found a trailer loaded with more than 225 kilograms of freshly harvested marijuana.

Ha bought the property on Nov. 1, 2005, for $190,000, which included the house, detached garage and several outbuildings. Police spoke to neighbours who had gone onto the property to help him plant corn before 2008. Others had helped him fix farm equipment.

Police determined that Ha had ties to the Mississauga area. On Feb. 24, police in the Hamilton area found a vehicle registered to him. Officers started surveillance the next morning and Ha was seen leaving a home with three other people, including two children. The children were dropped off at school, and police stopped Ha's vehicle in Toronto and arrested him.

OPP Sgt. Russell Watson, a former drug-enforcement officer who provided expert evidence, said the marijuana could have been headed to the U.S. Watson said suppliers do not like to flood the market with product since prices would drop. They would also ship to where the greatest demand was, he said.

Ha's sentencing hearing continues next month. Another Mississauga man charged in connection with the bust, Anh Bach Vu, 27, is expected to have a trial date set next week

© 2004 H.U.M.A.N.: Hemp Users Medical Access Network - Toronto Medical Marijuana