1700 marijuana plants - again, a large scale sophisticated operation. Not about a mom and pop shop. You don't look after 1700 plants all by your lonesome either, that's a business enterprise.

Pot was originally outlawed in the US due to the fact that it's fibre makes great textiles. It threatened to put all the wealthy cotton farmers (Governors, Senators) out of business.

With all these large busts all in a relatively short period of time, expect there to be a shortage of crack in PG.

Likely, none of this pot was going to hit the streets of PG.

The USA's hardline stance on drugs including pot, is what keeps the price of the commodity so high there. It is much more valuable across the border than it is here.

The anti Cannabis zealots are organized crimes best friends as they keep the prices high for nothing more than dried flowers.

This bust means nothing as both the grower and grow house will be replaced by Monday morning, with more product hitting the market shortly after that. The higher ups in organized crime laugh at these busts I'd wager, "Haahaaahaaa suckers, keep it up, the more you bust the more the price goes up making us money hands over fists..."

Let us make organized crime cry instead:

www.leap.cc

Anytime you steal your hydro it is a 100% sure way to get busted every time... so I'm not sure this was an individual that was that organized, because organized crime doesn't make that mistake. Most likely a fool with some ambition and possibly some connections and thought he could make some quick money.

Organized operations that operate over international borders will pay the cost of doing business, so they don't become a statistic (they set their own prices, so cost isn't an issue to them)... and we never hear about them. Most likely this was an independent guy that had connections to organized crime... organized criminals who wouldn't show up until it was time to crop out... and then the organized folks are in and out of there in under a day and gone.

It makes completely no sense to bust an operation like this at this stage, because all they get is the patsy. Better strategy would be to let the guy grow his crop... with the crop out time established, which can be narrowed down to a weeks time, and then stake out the place for that week if you're truly after the organization to the crime.

This kind of bust IMO is a public relations operation for the police and nothing much more than that. Probably complaint driven.

Dammmmm! Another dry weekend. *Grin

"Most likely this was an independent guy that had connections to organized crime... "

This is supposed to be better somehow? The organized crime bigwigs are very hard to catch because they keep these sorts of guys at arm's length.

I highly doubt the organized crime groups are laughing at the busts and the curtailing of the supply.

Eagle, you're exactly backward on the power theft. If they hook up legally, Hydro will freak at the energy consumption & report it to the RCMP. If they steal it someone has to physically investigate it IF they have any reason to be suspicious. Seldom happens.

No as soon as you steel hydro you are 100% sure to be busted. Its so easy to track the source of the missing power most people don't even realize it. Once you are steeling from hydro they take action... if you pay for your hydro they turn a blind eye if its small enough scale. I know people that work for hydro and they say it is not the policy for employees to get involved in legal hydro transaction... it becomes a security concern for their employees if they were to be doing that. Hydro is happy to sell power if you are paying for it legally.

As for MrPG's comments... the point is if you are going to make a bust then why not make it count? If its the cross boarder transactions that bring in the hard drugs that we are primarily concerned about, then it makes sense to bust an operation when these people are going to be caught in the act... otherwise the net effect is one patsy goes to jail at best, and pasties are a dime a dozen for international crime organizations. How many busts do we hear about where no one was home, or one guy gets arrested and yet they say its tied to organized crime?