Massive Prince George marijuana grow-op may be the biggest in BC

by Barry ORegan | May 29, 2010 at 05:08 am

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Last Thursday Prince George RCMP have uncovered what is believed to be the biggest grow op in British Columbia's history.

This comes back to back after Quesnel RCMP conducted a similar grow op raid on a Quesnel rural property last week in which 10,000 marijuana plants were seized.

The scale of the Prince George grow op is said to contain up to 18,000 marijuana plants in 20 greenhouses on a large acreage, purchased last year for the sole purpose of growing marijuana.

The three men charged are believed to be part of a larger Asian criminal organization link to other grow ops in British Columbia, perhaps even Canada wide as two others charged were from Quebec.

The sole BC resident charged is Bing Lung Wong, 37, of Vancouver, and Quebec residents Ye Zhi Qiang, 41, and Khue Ba Vu, 37 were also charged.

Bing Lung Wong is not a newcomer to the drug scene having been previously charged in Surrey, BC by Police in 1999.

What is interesting in this case, none of the three charged are legal owners of the property where the bust took place, leading some to believe this is not a local grow op production but part of a larger organization where large land purchases for the purpose of grow op production, much like Vancouver and the lower mainland home purchases are used much the same, for drug manufacturing. The bulk of the marijuana produced most likely ends up for US consumption across our border.

The conclusion on this theory of large land purchases for marijuana grow ops seems to have merit as the Quesnel grow op bust closely rivals the Prince George bust.

In the very same week RCMP officers from the Chase and Kamloops RCMP detachments found and seized over 4,300 marijuana plants and over 60 pounds of ready to go to market marijuana on a property on the Squilax Anglemont Highway in Anglemont, B.C.

Not to be outdone by other officers in the province, Williams Lake RCMP officers raided another property purchased for the sole purpose for grow operations at 150 Mile House area in which a male and female of Asian descent on the scene were from the Metro Vancouver area were charged after RCMP seized 2,500 marijuana plants.

It seems the theory holds true when RCMP officers state criminal organizations are moving to the interior more and more, as RCMP officers seem to be quite busy in what seems like a major grow op bust every other day in our BC interior.

Comments from citizens in the interior on blogs and media pages suggest that Police profiling of those who come into town making large cash purchases for rural properties with acreage seem to indicate those who do "Stand out like a sore thumb" in the community, garnering attention from police and rural citizen crime watch groups alike.

In this case profiling seems to work, despite naysayers who say the opposite.