On 17 August 2016 the Ontario Provincial Police executed a search warrant at a greenhouse operation on the 1500 block of Essex County Road 34 at Ruthven, in the municipality of Kingsville.[1] Officers of the Essex County street-crimes unit and the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau’s drug enforcement unit seized about 1,700 marijuana plants, which police valued at $1.7 million.[1] Two men from the Toronto area were arrested in the raid.[1]
Essex County detachment commander Inspector Glenn Miller said the seizure at the Ruthven greenhouse complex showed officers working with the public to find unlicensed criminal grow operations across Essex County.[1] No charges or later court outcomes for the two men were reported.
Greenhouse grow
The plants grew inside a greenhouse complex rather than in open fields, and the published photograph shows cut plants piled beside the emptied greenhouse.[1] Indoor and greenhouse grows of this kind need constant heat and light, which is one reason they draw police attention through utility use and tips.[1]