Nine men have been charged and police have seized more than 30,000 marijuana plants worth about $30 million

Nine men have been charged and police have seized more than 30,000 marijuana plants worth about $30 million in two massive grow operations in Barrie.
Officers from the OPP drug enforcement section and the Barrie Police Service executed a search warrant early Saturday at a former Molson brewery site at One Big Bay Point Rd.



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Click here to view photo gallery of growing facility
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The site, located beside the busy lanes of Highway 400, was passed daily by hundreds of thousands of drivers.

A second search warrant was executed at 4921 Hwy 11 North, Oro-Medonte Township just north of Barrie. There officers seized approximately 3,000 more marijuana plants.

Both locations, which police believe are linked, were being run as factories that operated on a 24-hour-a-day basis.

Police continue to investigate a number of tenants who controlled both locations, but they do suspect the illegal enterprises were likely run by organized crime or gangs.

Inside the Barrie brewery, officers found areas that had been set aside for living accommodations for up to 50 individuals who would look after the marijuana plants and included common areas, beds, televisions, fridges and stoves similar to a dormitory-type facility, police say.

'We were in there for two days securing the location. It's about 60,000 square feet,' said Bill Crate, superintendent of the OPP.

'There's living quarters in there. Everything from seed to packaged plants for distribution. I suspect we'll be in there for weeks gathering evidence and we'll be in there weeks more dismantling it. There is over a million dollars worth of equipment in there. There's miles and miles and miles of electrical wire and water hoses. It's quite incredible.'

The investigation showed that more than a thousand hydroponics lights were being used to provide artificial light for the plants. This operation would be capable of producing up to three or four crops per year, generating hundreds of millions of dollars, police said.

'The Big Bay Point location is the largest and most sophisticated grow operation in Canada,' said Deputy Commissioner Vaughn Collins of the OPP Investigation and Organized Crime Command. 'Commercial marijuana factories have reached epidemic proportions in Ontario. They are in every community and most are controlled by organized crime.'

The stunning bust has area residents asking how such a large drug operation could operate only metres away from a highway that millions of commuters use each year.

'There is a gatehouse, so there is controlled access and there are no windows,' said Crate. 'It was well vented so the smell wasn't there and they went to great lengths to make sure people wouldn't stumble upon it.'

Chief Wayne Frechette of the Barrie police said he was 'pleased that we were able to shut down and dismantle what was the largest indoor marijuana growing operation within Canada.'

Charged are Michael DiCicco, 60, of Toronto, Robert Bleich, 29, of Stayner, Scott Walker, 34, of St. Catharines, Zoran Stojanovic, 49, of St. Catharines, Tomas Gates, 33, of Corunna, Ont., Craig Walker, 24, of Niagara Falls, Ont., Scott Dillon, 23, of Toronto, Rayne Sauve, 36, of St. Catharines and Edward MacAdam, 43, of Niagara Falls, Ont.

Police would not say if their raid was the result of a tip.

All charged persons are being held for a bail hearing in Barrie court scheduled for Tuesday.

Police said they anticipate laying more charges against other individuals in the cases
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