JUDGE BELIEVES COUPLE DIDN'T PLAN GROW-OP

A Provincial Court judge says she believes a Regina couple who claim
they didn't plan a sophisticated marijuana grow operation in their
home, though they did receive $3,000 a month for their role in the
scheme.

Provincial Court Judge Janet McMurtry found Thieu Hung Chau, 53, and
his common-law wife Loi Thi Ly, 41, tended the commercial-size
marijuana grow operation primarily "for the benefit of others, but for
their own benefit as well."

Chau and Ly had previously pleaded guilty to drug offences related to
the marijuana operation discovered inside their Tanager Crescent home
Sept. 20, and on Monday McMurtry released her decision on which facts
will be considered during their sentencing proceedings later this week.

The operation was comprised of nearly 300 plants in three growing
stages, which included venting to deal with humidity, electricity and
water diversion, and a complex watering and fertilizing system with
drip lines running to each plant.

Most of the house was devoted to the grow operation, with four family
members sleeping in one bedroom and little furniture elsewhere in the
house. A police officer previously told court the harvested drugs
could have been worth as much as $477,000 on the street.

On Monday, McMurtry said she was satisfied with the Crown's argument
the plants would have required near-constant care, but said she didn't
believe the accused were responsible for setting up the operation

The couple has said the operation was being run by someone known to
them only as 'No. 2.'