A trial for two people alleged to be found running a large marijuana grow operation in Chilliwack will go ahead in August after a last-minute bid to have the search warrant quashed was dismissed.
Chang Yu Xu and Mao Quan Lin are charged with production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking in connection to a bust at Rosedale farm more than two years ago.
It was March 14, 2017, when police descended on a property at Gillanders Road where they seized more than 3,200 plants and 32 kilograms of dried marijuana.
• READ MORE: VIDEO: RCMP seize 3,200 marijuana plants at Chilliwack farm
Six people were arrested at the scene as part of the search warrant executed that day.
City of Chilliwack staff and a BC Hydro worker were on the scene with RCMP for much of the afternoon that day as police removed multiple garbage bags from a farm building.
The five-acre property was owned by Chang Yu Xu as of Oct. 21, 2016, according to city records.
Xu and Mao Quan Lin were then charged with running the allegedly illegal grow-op. Xu applied to have the search warrant quashed, arguing that police asked for a telewarrant when a Chilliwack judge was not available, but they should have gone to another courthouse instead.
The defendant argued that police took a “relaxed approach” in that they had information from city hall as early as September 2016 about the possible grow-op but did nothing until March 2017.
Crown counsel argued that urgency was not a basis for reviewing this search warrant. That and the fact that the city’s tips about the grow-op were prospective in that there were no details, just information that the property owners might start one.
At the time of the bust, police did not immediately confirm that illegal marijuana was being grown on site. And a source that had done work on the site told The Progress that during a visit he saw multiple medical marijuana growing permits from Langley and Surrey displayed inside the building.
Judge David Silverman dismissed Xu’s application in court on July 24 to quash the warrant, and a four-day trial for both accused is scheduled to run Aug. 12, 13, 14 and 15.
• RELATED: Chilliwack’s largest ever marijuana grow-op case finally over with no verdict
@PeeJayAitch
paul.henderson@theprogress.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
