Sixteen people have been arrested after police in Merritt dismantled a large illegal cannabis grow op – with enough plants to “equate to one cannabis cigarette for every person living in the community of Kelowna.”
Merritt RCMP Cpl. Derrick Francis said in a statement Friday (Nov. 20) that officers executed a Thursday search on a rural property in the city, which is located between Hope and Kelowna.
Inside a large commercial building police allegedly found 800 cannabis plants at various stages of growth, as well as 16 people inside.
Those individuals, all with ties to the Lower Mainland, were released at the scene and charges are pending.
“The impact of that amount of cannabis not ending up on the streets of our community or any other community is immeasurable,” Francis said.
This is the second time this month that police in the region conducted mass-seizures of illicit cannabis. On Nov. 3, police announced they had seized $8 million in illegal crops from a location along Highway 8, just outside of Merritt.
@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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