Winnipeg police find 10,000 cannabis plants in Ross Avenue warehouse
In an early-morning raid on 2 December 2004, Winnipeg police found more than 10,000 hydroponic cannabis plants filling 5,000 square feet across two floors of a warehouse at 468 Ross Avenue, two blocks from headquarters; they valued the grow at about $11 million and said dismantling it would take days.
Winnipeg police said an early-morning raid on Thursday 2 December 2004 uncovered more than 10,000
marijuana plants in a boarded-up brick warehouse at 468 Ross Avenue, five minutes’ walk from the
Public Safety Building.[1]Constable Bob Johnson said officers were “somewhat astounded” by 5,000
square feet of hydroponic cultivation spread over two floors.[1]
Scale and logistics
The Free Press reported the seizure as the city’s largest grow operation to date, worth about $11
million on the street using police formulas.[1]Johnson said the raid yielded more plants than
Winnipeg seizures in 2001 and 2002 combined.[1]Police believed growers had invested about
$100,000 in lights and trays and that most plants were mature after roughly 60 to 90 days under
hydroponic conditions.[1]
Dismantling
Johnson said identification officers would fingerprint the site and drug-unit staff would catalogue
each plant for court before trucks hauled plants and equipment to an undisclosed destruction site.[1]Neighbours said they smelled marijuana from the building but had not called police.[1]A
Winnipeg Police Museum history of the case describes the same Ross Avenue warehouse as a landmark
2004 indoor grow takedown, though it records a lower plant count than contemporaneous reporting.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Free Press called the site Canada’s second-largest indoor grow bust after a Barrie brewery raid in January 2004; the opened articles do not name anyone charged in the Ross Avenue case.
Police estimated growers could have earned about $10 million if the crop had been harvested; that figure is their formula, not a counted sale.
A later Winnipeg Police Museum account describes about 3,500 plants at the same address; the 2004 news reports consistently cite more than 10,000 plants.
Granby police raided an apartment on rue Neil on 10 November 2026 without making any arrests, following an investigation opened in August into suspected cannabis sales. Officers seized more than 100 grams of dried cannabis, THC concentrate and edibles alongside suspected methamphetamine, psilocybin, weapons and trafficking equipment, and said charges could follow.
City police in Saint-Jérôme executed two search warrants on the morning of 9 November 2026 in the Lafontaine sector, targeting a 59-year-old man in an investigation into suspected cocaine trafficking and illicit cannabis distribution. About ten officers took part and the operation was still under way, with the seizure tally and any charges to follow.
Sûreté du Québec officers searched a home on rue Guindon in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon on 5 November 2026 and seized more than two kilos of cannabis, four long guns and an electroshock weapon. The force said the search followed information from the public and that its investigation is continuing; no arrests were reported.
Police in Quebec arrested two people in five searches in Shawinigan and Trois-Rivières on 5 November 2026, part of a cannabis-contraband investigation. Officers seized more than 302 kilograms of cannabis products, including edibles, dried and concentrated cannabis and hashish, along with methamphetamine, cash and contraband cigarettes, and released both suspects pending a later court date.
