Police raid legal medical marijuana grow-op in Ontario, find 3,000 illegal plants

Police in Port Colborne, Ont., arrested five suspects in connection with the robbery of a licensed medical marijuana grower earlier this week, but investigators then raided the grow-op and found thousands of additional plants being illegally grown.

Niagara Regional Police responded to a robbery in progress at 462 Pinecrest Rd. just before 4 a.m. Monday morning.

No details were released on the amount of marijuana stolen. Police, K-9 and Emergency Task Unit officers responded to the scene with the help of Ontario Provincial Police and the Erie County Sherriff’s Department helicopter.

READ MORE: 5 arrested after legal medical marijuana grow op robbed in Ontario

Five suspects were arrested Monday and police are still searching for five additional suspects.

The NRPS Guns, Gangs, and Grow Unit attended the scene to help with the investigation and determined that the grower had three licenses to produce medical marijuana, but suspected there was a large quantity being grown unlawfully.

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The grow-op was then raided after a search warrant was executed and police discovered 3,400 marijuana plants growing — almost 3,000 more than were legally allowed.

Police have not made any arrests as a result of the raid but said the investigation is ongoing and charges are expected in the near future.

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“The fact that this location had almost 3,000 plants over the allowed amount, once processed, would yield a profit of over $1.5 million dollars,” police said in a release.

“This makes locations such as this one very vulnerable to the criminal subculture. The current robbery investigation at the Pinecrest Road location is a prime example.”

Anyone with any information on this incident is being asked to contact the Niagara Regional Police Service at 905-688-4111 extension 3300.