Police say they have shut down a $2.5-million grow-op in Olds.
The grow-op was authorized for medicinal purposes but the terms and conditions of the licence were violated, RCMP report. Police say the owners grossly exceeded the number of plants permitted.
RCMP Olds and Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) discovered the massive operation on Feb. 12 after tips about suspicious activity at the property.
The plant count makes the grow-op the largest dismantled by ALERT’s Green Team in more than two years.
A total of 2,137 plants, valued at $2.5 million, were located inside a home and in Quonset huts on the property.
Police also seized $40,000 in cash proceeds of crime.
Three men and two women were arrested but charges have yet to been laid.
Four children were in the home at the time of the search and Children and Family Services assisted with the investigation.
Alberta Health inspectors deemed the home uninhabitable.
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.