[OG Kush]

Police say growers elsewhere have stooped to diabolical methods when it comes to protecting their investment.

Harvesting season is just starting for one of the most lucrative cash crops around - marijuana.

And with the start of clandestine harvesting, RCMP warn the public to be careful around suspicious fields, since marijuana growers have been known to resort to such measures as planting booby-traps to ward off unwanted visitors.

Booby traps could include everything from covered holes and boards with nails to bear traps, said Sgt. Jamie George, operations NCO of the Prince County RCMP.

George said the types of booby-traps used by marijuana growers are only limited "by the imagination," he said.

In parts of Western Canada marijuana growers have set up trip wires that can trigger shotguns if disturbed, said RCMP Const. Scott Lundrigan with the Joint Forces Operation.

There haven't been any booby-traps detected on P.E.I. but that doesn't mean it can't happen, he warned. RCMP have encountered crude early warning systems consisting of tin cans attached to strings.

Marijuana growers have been known to set up traps on Crown land as well as private property, so it's possible for blueberry pickers, hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts to stumble upon an operation, according to RCMP.

It's best to let police investigate suspicious activities such as trucks disappearing into the woods in an area several times a week, said Lundrigan.

RCMP officers from throughout the province as well as officers from various municipal police forces were involved in raids of fields in several Prince County locations Friday.

Police, bolstered by an RCMP Air Services helicopter based in Moncton, N.B., seized approximately 40 plants in a co-ordinated raid, worth up to $40,000 on the street.

The plants were between three and seven feet in height.

No arrests were made in the sweep, co-ordinated by the Prince District Joint Forces Operation and using officers from Borden-Carleton Police Service, the Kensington Police Service and the L Division Identification Section.



Newshawk: SX420 - 420Girls.com
Source: 420Times.com
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Aug 2006
Author: Jim Brown
Copyright: 2006 Journal-Pioneer
Contact: dshea@journalpioneer.com
Website: http://www.journalpioneer.com/