$1.1 million in pot found in house
Jun 25, 2009 - 03:03 PM
By Jeff Mitchell
AJAX -- The discovery of a large-scale marijuana grow operation has come as a shock to residents of a quiet northeast Ajax neighbourhood.
"Wow," Portelli Crescent homeowner Jeff Birch said when he learned of the seizure of more than $1 million worth of marijuana plants from a home on his street.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised because I knew Durham Region was pretty hot for that sort of stuff," said Mr. Blair, a resident of the neighbourhood for three years.
"It shouldn't surprise me but it does when it's in your back yard."
Durham police officers, responding to a report of suspicious activity just before 4 a.m. Tuesday, found evidence of a grow op inside the house on Portelli, a tidy new neighbourhood south of Taunton Road and west of Audley Road. After obtaining a search warrant, cops removed approximately 800 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $1.1 million.
No one was found in the home; an investigation continues, police said.
Portelli homeowner Sam Millington, tending to his lawn on a humid summer morning, expressed amazement at the audacity of dope dealers setting up shop in his upscale neighborhood.
"I can't believe they would expect that would work in this area," he said.
It's not that surprising that neighbours weren't immediately aware of the Portelli grow op, said Detective Sergeant Mario Lessard of Durham's Drug Enforcement Unit.
"You may be oblivious to living beside a grow op," he said. "Individuals in this kind of business will look for typical subdivisions."
The Portelli home was unoccupied and used solely for growing pot, Det.-Sgt. Lessard said.
Mr. Millington, who's lived in the area for two years, said his neighbourhood consists of homeowners who work at their jobs and raise their families, not expecting criminal activity in the houses around them.
"I have kids," he said. "I don't want that in my neighbourhood."
Also on Tuesday, Durham's Drug Enforcement Unit charged a Newcastle man in connection with a large-scale grow op.
Anyone with information is asked to call 905-579-1520, extension 5800.
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