Shuswap dope grower gets two years imprisonment

MALAKWA – A Shuswap man has been sent to prison after police found a huge and elaborate marijuana grow-op on his property.

When Mounties raided the Malakwa property of Colin Martin in July 2010, they found the grow-op under a 7000 square foot workshop.

The entrance was hidden under a hydraulic operated platform that had fake electrical generators bolted onto it.

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An underground pipe funneled the pungent odour of about 3000 marijuana plants to a large gravel pile 100 meters away.

Martin earlier pleaded guilty to production and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking at the outset of what was to be a three week trial.

He’s been sentenced to two years jail, one year probation and is banned for life from possessing firearms.

But his drug woes aren’t over.

Martin has been ordered extradited to the U-S to face trial in Seattle where police say he was the kingpin of a cross-border drug-smuggling ring.

American prosecutors allege Martin hired people in B.C. to load helicopters with as much as $5 million worth of drugs then paid pilots to fly the choppers into northern Idaho and Washington state.