$1.3m pot bust on Stoney Creek Mountain

An anonymous e-mail led Hamilton police to a $1.3 million marijuana grow-op hidden in an upper Stoney Creek house.

Police raided the home late Thursday night arresting two Toronto men inside the single family detached home on Leckie Avenue and seized 1,384 marijuana plants.

They also seized a quantity of Canadian and Vietnamese currency.

Detective Sergeant Glenn Bullock said the two men are most likely ‘farmers’ working for an organized crime operation in what he called “a pretty high level” operation.

It was luck the two men happened to be there when police from the Division Two HEAT unit, vice and drugs and the BEAR unit arrived at the door at 11 p.m., he said. The home was not set up for anyone living there.

The two men, he said, were likely ‘hired’ to tend the operation or were working there to pay off some debt.

“We know they’re working for someone higher in the chain.”

Bullock said the plants were located in various stages of growth on the first floor and in the basement of the home.

The foundation of the house had been punched through so hydro could be tapped and electricity stolen beyond the home’s meter.

Bullock said an e-mail landed in the east-end station a few days ago and “it raised some suspicions” and was forwarded to the HEAT team.