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Ottawa to seize grow-op houses
By Hempology | June 14, 2003
One home taken fro the first time in B.C., nine others targeted
From the Vancouver Sun, June 14, 2003
by Matthew Ramsey
For the first time in B.C., the federal Crown has seized a home used by the owner as
a marijuana growing operation and Surrey Mounties are vowing to go after at least
nine other homes in the city.
The $439,000 house was officially forfeited to the Crown June 11 when Bich Ngoc Vu
pleaded guilty to production of a controlled substance in Surrey Provincial Court.
Surrey RCMP spokesman Constable Tim Shields confirmed Friday that Vu’s sister’s home
next door at 10859 166A St. has been restrained by the Crown (meaning it cannot be
bought or sold) as Ngoc Thi Nguyen awaits her triel for allegedly running a growing
operating in that home.
Both homes were raided March 4 by members of the Surrey RCMP drug section. They found
a sophisticated 397-plant grow-op inside Vu’s home that included a hydro bypass,
surveillance cameras and a motion-detection system designed to shut off the hydro
bypass as anyone approached the exterior meter.
RCMP pays 10% of Surrey’s policing tab, but gets to sell home
Vu was charged with possession for the purposes of trafficking, theft of hydro and
production of a controlled substance. The possession and theft charges were dropped,
but Vu was sentanced to a 12-month conditional sentence on the production charge.
The forfeiture of the house at 10865 166A St. was included in her plea agreement.
Vu is also co-owner of two Abbotsford properties. Nguyen owns additional property in
Langley and Surrey and is listed as co-owner of two more homes in Vancouver. The
operation found in Nguyen’s home contained “hundreds” of plants, Shields said.
Revenues from sales of forfeited properties are divided between the province and
the federal government on a case-by-case basis, depending on the allocation of
resources to make the forfeiture, Cantin explained.
Sergeant Chuck McDonald of the RCMP proceeds of crime section saifd that if property
is seized as a result of work by the provincial Crown, revenue from the sale of that
property goes to the provinec. If the property is seized as a result of worked by
the federal Crown, the revenues go to the federal government.
Unlike the U.S., Canadian police do not get a share of the revenue, nor do cities
such as Surrey that fund their own police.
“We’re not happy about that at all,” said Surrey councillor Gary Tymoschuk.
The City of Surrey pays for 90 per cent of its RCMP policing budget, while Ottawa
chips in the remaining 10 per cent.
Tymoschuk said he would like to proceeds of crime revenue sharing reflect the funding
formula. On May 26 Surrey passed a motion asking the federal government to return
at least a portion of proceeds of crime revenue. That motion has been forwarded to
the Union of B.C. Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, but
Tymoschuk is not optimistic.
Bill C-24, passed Dec. 18, 2001, modified forfeiture law in Canada to allow the
Crown to seize all property used in committing a crime. Under the old regulations, the
government could only forfeit property if it was built or modified to carry out the
crime.
Shields said the new legislation makes it “somewhat easier” to seize offence-related
property, but it is still a very time consuming and labour intensive process. The nine
restraint orders in Surrey and the forfeiture of Vu’s home have only been possible
because Surrey RCMP has allocated two officers to work full-time on investigations
into proceeds of crime connected with growing operations, said Shields.
Earlier this month, 29-year-old Sanjeev Singh Gill had to forfeit and $150,000 warehouse
space he used to produce methamphetamine. It took a year and a half to convict Gill
and then convince a judge, in a seperate hearing, that the Crown should get the
warehouse.
Vancouver police Constable Sarah Bloor said city police have yet to seize a home
used by the owner to grow pot because the resources and time required to go about
doing so are prohibitive. However, she said, the deterrent value of the tactic is
clear.
“It certainly could have an impact on the proceeds that go into criminal acts. We
would always be interested in trying.”
David Pitts, who lives in the same affluent Fraser Heights neighbourhood as Vu’s
home, said the threat of having to forfeit one’s home for having a grow up inside
it is certainly a deterrent, but the government could conceivably go further considering
the profits associated with growing marijuana can be astronomical.
“One good crop would probably pay for it [the home],” said Pitts. “There’s big money in
it. Obviously that’s why they [growers] are willing to take the risk.”
Police executed a search warrant Friday at a home in the 17000-block of 104A Ave. where
they found 493 marijuana plants and arrested two Vietnamese women and three Vietnamese
men. A two-year-old infant in the home at the time of the raids is no win care of the
Ministry of Children and Families.
Shields said RCMP intelligence indicates that Vietnamese gangs and the Hells Angels
are now working cooperatively on marijuana grow-operations.
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