Multi-Million Dollar Grow-Op Discovered in Olds

Multi-Million Dollar Grow-Op Discovered in Olds

February 17, 2015


Calgary…RCMP Olds and Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) have uncovered a massive marihuana grow operation in Olds, Alta. More than 2,000 plants, valued at $2.5 million, were located in a rural home.

A total of 2,137 marihuana plants were located inside the home and inside quosnet huts located on the property. The plant count make the grow-op the largest dismantled by ALERT’s Green Team in more than two years.

The grow-op was dismantled in February 12 after RCMP Olds members acted upon information about suspicious activity at the property. The home was an authorized medicinal grow-op site, but the terms and conditions of the license were violated with the number of permitted plants being grossly exceeded.

Five people were arrested but charges have yet to been laid. The suspects include three men and two women who range in age from 58 to 25. Two young children were in the home at the time of the search and Children and Family Services assisted with the investigation.

The home has been deemed uninhabitable by Alberta Health Inspectors.

Investigators also seized $40,000 in cash proceeds of crime.

In December 2012 ALERT dismantled a 2,233 plant grow-op in Parkland County. The largest grow-op in the province was found in High Prairie in August 2010 with 6,500 plants seized.

To report suspicious activity or a suspected marihuana grow operation in your community, contact police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS). For information on how to spot a marihuana grow operation, visit

www.alert-ab.ca/growops

ALERT was established and is funded by the Alberta Government and is a compilation of the province’s most sophisticated law enforcement resources committed to tackling serious and organized crime. Members of Alberta Sheriffs, Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Lethbridge Regional Police Service, Medicine Hat Police Service, and RCMP work in ALERT.

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