RCMP bust nets 5274 marijuana plants

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Winnipeg Sun:

RCMP make big drug busts
Police seize marijuana plants, cash and vehicles

By CHRIS KITCHING, SUN MEDIA

RCMP seized 5,274 marijuana plants, 15 pounds of harvested pot, $131,000 in cash and 11 vehicles when they raided 12 grow operations outside Winnipeg this week.

Members of the Winnipeg RCMP drug section finished sorting through the rural properties late Wednesday, said RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish.

If harvested, the plants could have produced upwards of one million individual marijuana joints.

Police did not release an estimated value of the plants, but a single mature plant can fetch about $1,000 on the street, meaning the plants could have a potential value of about $5.2 million.

Charges are pending against 16 people, who were arrested and then released on a promise to appear in court April 24.

One of the main targets in the investigation, Hoang Vu Truong, 25, of the Rural Municipality of St. Clements, was arrested Tuesday at Vancouver International Airport, where he was waiting to board a flight out of Canada.

Arrangements are being made to return him to Manitoba.