PEMBERTON 鈥� Mounties have seized 12,000 marijuana plants that were just about to be harvested on Crown land in the Pemberton area.
Sgt. Peter Thiessen, a spokesman for the RCMP, said the Serious Organized Crime unit was asked to investigate potential illegal plants being grown on steep hills in the area.
He said between Aug. 23 and Sept. 6, investigators discovered 25 illegal grow operations in the area. Plot sizes ranged from 150 to 1,009 plants, he added.
The Lower Mainland District RCMP Emergency Response Team was called in to access and eradicate plants growing in the steepest areas.
Thiessen said police found a camp next to some of the larger plots. There, officers discovered sleeping and living areas, as well as equipment and food set up to support a crew of six to eight people for weeks.
A dedicated drying room tent was set up with three generators and 200 liters of fuel and packaging equipment. It appeared that the harvest had just begun when police located the operation, Thiessen said.
As of Thursday morning, no one had been charged in relation to the grow-ops.
