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A massive marijuana-growing enterprise involving about a dozen houses and thousands of plants worth tens of millions of dollars wasn't just the state's largest.
State and federal law enforcement authorities say the bust also represents the movement south of a Canadian trend of sophisticated indoor growing operations working out of middle-to-affluent residential neighborhoods.
"This is a trend we had been seeing in Canada for as long as I have been a U.S. attorney," Tom Colantuono, New Hampshire's federal prosecutor since 2001, said Thursday. "We were very concerned that this might move south across the border and the fact that it has is very disturbing to all of us in law enforcement."
In Canada, the prevalence of grow houses has prompted some police agencies to create task forces solely dedicated to fighting indoor marijuana "grow-ops." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police dedicates sections of its Web site -- Royal Canadian Mounted Police - Gendarmerie royale du Canada -- with tip sheets for landlords on how to avoid grow op tenants and how to spot a grow house.
Some signs: Covered windows, localized power surges and brown outs, the smell of marijuana and the sounds of electrical humming, fans and trickling water.
It is too early to know how far the New Hampshire operation spread and whether it had any international ties, but authorities are confident at least 13 houses discovered in the last two months are connected in some way. The trail began in October when firefighters responding to an electrical fire in a Hooksett house discovered 700 marijuana plants in a basement tricked out as a hydroponic greenhouse. In Epsom last month, an investigation of a blown power transformer led authorities to another grow house with 1,400 plants worth about $7 million.
The major bust came Wednesday, when 200 people from local, state and federal agencies worked through the day raiding 11 houses in Concord, Derry, Pembroke, Andover, Chester, Weare, Hopkinton, Londonderry, and Canterbury.
"One dominoed into the next," Booth said Thursday of the trail of houses where police made six arrests, and seized a total 7,000 plants worth an estimated $30 million on the street. The suspects were arraigned in U.S. District Court. Documents detailing charges and the names of those arrested remained sealed.
Neatly kept houses set on spacious lots provided cover to growers, who had converted the interiors into marijuana farms filled with plastic-covered seedlings and potted plants nursed by rows of lamps fed through massively rejiggered electrical wiring.
"When you look at the amount of real estate that's involved, when you look at the sophistication of how they're actually doing those grows ... It's just not a little organization that has planned this," Booth said.
"Somebody has put together quite a spread and array of talent (to) help bring this thing together, so there's a lot behind it."
Of a Weare house where more than $1 million of marijuana was seized, one woman said not much stood out about the neighboring house -- except for one thing.
"We noticed the electric company was here quite a bit," Kim Hardy told WMUR-TV. "Actually, our transformer had blown a couple of months ago, and there's not a lot of activity (in the house)."
She added, "It's a beautiful house; so we're very upset to learn it's being (used as) a greenhouse."
State police listed the names of the homeowners in Wednesday's seizures as: Michelle Nguyen, Thuy Anh Nguyen, Hong Bach Nguyen, Nu Thi Tran, Cong Nguyen, Robert Nguyen, Da Vav Ha, Hung Tran, Hai Bui, Dung Nguyen and Wei Huang.
Authorities said homeowners with the same last names may not be related and are not necessarily those arrested. Booth said police were boggled by the homes, all bought recently for purchase prices ranging from $240,000 to $490,000. The total value of real estate involved is about $4.4 million, he said.
"These aren't just low-income houses where a growing operation was going on," Both said. "It was really a high-scale, high-priced real estate operation ... it was a first-class operation."
Booth said records searches revealed the houses had been purchased within the last year or so, a sign that the grow-op had not been in business long.
"We're kind of hopeful that this is the start of it and we nipped it in the bud, so to speak," Booth said.
Newshawk: User - 420 Magazine
Source: Seacoast Online
Pubdate: 15 December 2006
Author: Beverley Wang
Copyright: 2006 Seacoast Online
Contact: Portsmouth, New Hampshire - NH - Kennebunkport, Maine - ME
Website: Portsmouth Herald Newspaper - Complete News from February 25, 2007
State and federal law enforcement authorities say the bust also represents the movement south of a Canadian trend of sophisticated indoor growing operations working out of middle-to-affluent residential neighborhoods.
"This is a trend we had been seeing in Canada for as long as I have been a U.S. attorney," Tom Colantuono, New Hampshire's federal prosecutor since 2001, said Thursday. "We were very concerned that this might move south across the border and the fact that it has is very disturbing to all of us in law enforcement."
In Canada, the prevalence of grow houses has prompted some police agencies to create task forces solely dedicated to fighting indoor marijuana "grow-ops." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police dedicates sections of its Web site -- Royal Canadian Mounted Police - Gendarmerie royale du Canada -- with tip sheets for landlords on how to avoid grow op tenants and how to spot a grow house.
Some signs: Covered windows, localized power surges and brown outs, the smell of marijuana and the sounds of electrical humming, fans and trickling water.
It is too early to know how far the New Hampshire operation spread and whether it had any international ties, but authorities are confident at least 13 houses discovered in the last two months are connected in some way. The trail began in October when firefighters responding to an electrical fire in a Hooksett house discovered 700 marijuana plants in a basement tricked out as a hydroponic greenhouse. In Epsom last month, an investigation of a blown power transformer led authorities to another grow house with 1,400 plants worth about $7 million.
The major bust came Wednesday, when 200 people from local, state and federal agencies worked through the day raiding 11 houses in Concord, Derry, Pembroke, Andover, Chester, Weare, Hopkinton, Londonderry, and Canterbury.
"One dominoed into the next," Booth said Thursday of the trail of houses where police made six arrests, and seized a total 7,000 plants worth an estimated $30 million on the street. The suspects were arraigned in U.S. District Court. Documents detailing charges and the names of those arrested remained sealed.
Neatly kept houses set on spacious lots provided cover to growers, who had converted the interiors into marijuana farms filled with plastic-covered seedlings and potted plants nursed by rows of lamps fed through massively rejiggered electrical wiring.
"When you look at the amount of real estate that's involved, when you look at the sophistication of how they're actually doing those grows ... It's just not a little organization that has planned this," Booth said.
"Somebody has put together quite a spread and array of talent (to) help bring this thing together, so there's a lot behind it."
Of a Weare house where more than $1 million of marijuana was seized, one woman said not much stood out about the neighboring house -- except for one thing.
"We noticed the electric company was here quite a bit," Kim Hardy told WMUR-TV. "Actually, our transformer had blown a couple of months ago, and there's not a lot of activity (in the house)."
She added, "It's a beautiful house; so we're very upset to learn it's being (used as) a greenhouse."
State police listed the names of the homeowners in Wednesday's seizures as: Michelle Nguyen, Thuy Anh Nguyen, Hong Bach Nguyen, Nu Thi Tran, Cong Nguyen, Robert Nguyen, Da Vav Ha, Hung Tran, Hai Bui, Dung Nguyen and Wei Huang.
Authorities said homeowners with the same last names may not be related and are not necessarily those arrested. Booth said police were boggled by the homes, all bought recently for purchase prices ranging from $240,000 to $490,000. The total value of real estate involved is about $4.4 million, he said.
"These aren't just low-income houses where a growing operation was going on," Both said. "It was really a high-scale, high-priced real estate operation ... it was a first-class operation."
Booth said records searches revealed the houses had been purchased within the last year or so, a sign that the grow-op had not been in business long.
"We're kind of hopeful that this is the start of it and we nipped it in the bud, so to speak," Booth said.
Newshawk: User - 420 Magazine
Source: Seacoast Online
Pubdate: 15 December 2006
Author: Beverley Wang
Copyright: 2006 Seacoast Online
Contact: Portsmouth, New Hampshire - NH - Kennebunkport, Maine - ME
Website: Portsmouth Herald Newspaper - Complete News from February 25, 2007
