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Anyone know why overgrow is down? [UPDATE: OG servers have been turned off]

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Noone listen to that fucking goofball marc emery, he has issues with RC and overgrow and will say anything to drag him through the mud. His cannabisculture articles or posts are worth JACK-SHIT, he reads something on ICmag and speculates the hell out of it, as you can see by his delusional posts back there. Let it be known, marc emery is a fucking idiot.

Here is some news from this morning:
oldpink said:
RC has been released

I've heard from our contact that RC has been released
I should have a statement for you soon but I can confirm for now that the servers
were turned off by RC so theres no IP log's
recent report's on Cannabis Culture that RC had fled are totally wrong
 
I agree. I think Emery could give a shit about anyone except Emery & his posse of pussy. Don't trust the guy 1 bit.
Plus if I were looking at 60 yrs to life in prison, I sure as hell wouldn't be all over the place, like 1 happy son-of-a-bitch.
It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he did a 'flip' & is now working with po-po....but that is ALL speculation.
 
Look at these gems:
Narc Scott Emery said:
I'm entitled to speculate, thats what media does in lieu of any release from the people who ought to be talking. You work with what you've got. I didn't ever say we had any corroboration, we tried for corroboration, but I speculated with what I had to work with.
Narc Scott Emery said:
This remark from Chimera is brazen:

>>>If we divide ourselves, we're just one step away from 'conquer'.<<

Overgrow was filth-pit of slander against me for its entire run. Overgrow did all the 'dividing' for years. And overgrow was a competitor with a vested financial interest in maintaining the slander to their own profit.

I should be dancing at overgrow's demise, normally I'd chalk it up to what goes around comes around, Cannabisworld housed alot of people who slandered me frequently.

So spare me we should "all band together" to protect the identity of a guy who anonymously housed miscreants allied against me.

Nonetheless, we have tried to pursue facts which the public is entitled. No one who does the business and takes money and people's trust is entitled to anonymity when a problem like this occurs. People are entitled to know the facts quickly.

So there you have it. My magic 8 ball was right all along. Marc emery and his legion of puppets are just trolling.

This has been posted at ICmag btw, it seems like everything will be back up in a few weeks.
oldpink said:
very shortly we hope to set up forums to allow the displaced members from OG & CW
we hope to try to retrieve as much of the data from the sites and maybe even try to rebuild them
this will take a few weeks to sort out
meanwhile were still hoping the databases are intact and hopefully we can get them and put the sites back up in one way or another

OP
 
That scumbag Emery would never say he was in the wrong about anything. He'll continue to point his finger at everyone else being 'against' him. Now why would anybody be against such a trustworthy fella?
If he had any brains, he'd come right out & NOT speculate about news like this, especially since nothing's confirmed. But nooooo, he's gotta spread his opinions like they were fact, thus confusing the circumstances even further.
I think 'payback' is coming around to bite the 'princess of pot' on his balls, if he still has any.
 
He didn't speculate, he flat out lied. It would have been one thing if when he had said what he "thought" had happenned, he also told us just that, that it was pure speculation. He didn't admit that until challenged. What a piece of shit. I've only been posting on OG for a little over a year, but I spend a good amount of time there and have learned an incredible amount.

Blowmonkey said:
Originally Posted by Narc Scott Emery
This remark from Chimera is brazen:

>>>If we divide ourselves, we're just one step away from 'conquer'.

So spare me we should "all band together" to protect the identity of a guy who anonymously housed miscreants allied against me.<<

Spare us Emery, just keep your mouth shut.
 
Taken from another forum:

Posted from Mongoose @ >>>>>>>>>

RC is working with the Authorities. OG and CW IP's were logged.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
About 48 hours ago I broke my 26 month long self-imposed exile from the internet to post the results of my converstations with RC. Nobody else seemed to the the will or ability to track down and talk to him, and my concerns for the industry and the people I love who participate in it out weighed the enjoyment of my recent relative obscurity. I was sure any calls were going to be monitored, but hey - it's not like my name has never been associated with cannabis seeds, eh. So I called RC. Twice.

The first call was to get his story of what happened to him, and the servers for Overgrow and Cannabis World, and to offer support, financial and otherwise. I had been in contact with a few friends and business acquaintances, and had passed the virtual hat around - to the tune of well over US$50,000 pledged to assist RC, with no strings attached. RC said he would have to talk to his lawyers first for instructions on handling such a large donation. OK, fine. RC has all my contact numbers (always had, btw) and I expected a call the next day with instructions from his lawyers.

After my first call to him, I noted that Marc Emery from Cannabis Culture had a front page story saying RC had split the country, etcetera. Fuck. So, after some introspection, I decided to take the plunge - I was returning to my long lost home, the internet. RC had told me he would be releasing a statement, drawn up with the assistance of his lawyers, within 24 hours. Now, I had taken RC at his word as to what had happened, and I thought his clients, suppliers and members of his sites should have at least an idea of what happened, so I called him back, and said so. He agreed I could post what I put in my first post on the internet in 26 months.

Some things RC said to me didn't sit well with me. I did wake the guy up, but still... my instincts were making my hackles rise. As time passed, I kept thinking - who the fuck doesn't leap on a US$50,000 gift? My instincts said I wouldn't hear from his lawyers about it. I was correct.

Now, I have known RC's real name - and much more information about him, from back in the day when I made a deal with ~Shabang~ to buy out his 1/2 of Overgrow. I started doing the phone call thing to newspapers, the Quebec Provincial Police, RCMP public affairs office, blah, blah, blah. No record of an arrest. No record of bail or release. No records for RC, period. I had a couple of phone calls with ~Shabang~ as well, as he is one of the few people in the world I felt comfortable brain-storming with some of the information I was working with. I trust ~S with my life.

I called everyone I knew - and I know a fuckload of folks - to try and pry out some facts. I got a ton of calls, PM's and emails, and the picture they were painting wasn't jiving with some 'facts' that RC gave me. In fact, the fucker lied to me - to you - to the industry.

Just after midnight last night, I got a call from Marc Emery. Some of you may have heard of him. If you want to Marc bash, stay the fuck outta this thread. I've been in this industry for quite some time, and I don't believe in tearing down anyone who has the guts and determination for a cause that he does. If you don't like doing business with him, then don't. I have managed to negotiate this industry for years without hurting and name calling of people who are, in my eyes, on the same side. (Just ask Dr. Chronic - shortly after his site launched on OG - and when Gypsy was, as usual acting like an asshole and treating the Doc like shit on the boards, his site went down - hardware failure. That day was the first time I talked to the Doc - I called him and offered to host his site until his hardware was repaired. He declined, but that was the basis of a solid business relationship with him, one of my competitors. I have since met the Doc, and he is one of those truly rare finds - an honest to goodness decent and nice man. I would like to think I can call Dr. Chronic my friend, and I won't put up with any Doc bashing here either End of rant)

Emery and I chatted for over 1/2 an hour. At the outset, I was clear that I couldn't give him any information, but we could discuss what we both had knowledge of. I can tell you now that Emery had RC's real name for quite some time, and had been checking high and low, much like I had been, and had found no trace. Emery gave me a who's who list of people who know RC - in some cases for decades - and who RC had shunned any form of contact with since this all started. He quite graciously offered me all they had found out, and didn't pressure me for information in return. His concern for anyone affected by the fallout from this is genuine. The industry is in an uproar, and I hadn't seen anyone else with people working the phones trying to unearth the truth. By approximately 12:53 AM (GMT) Mr. Marc Scott Emery had earned my respect. We ended our chat, but now I still had more questions.

Rumours, speculation and innuendo filled the forums everywhere, and my instincts were screaming by now. Several details RC had given me were blatantly false, but not a smoking gun. Not yet.

And then, this morning at 10:30 AM (GMT) my phone rang. It was an old acquaintance of mine - and he had brought me a smoking gun. He had done business with RC, and RC paid him by check. The check was made out to a business that has nothing to do with cannabis or cannabis seeds. It was the only time that business had ever negotiated a payment from anyone in the industry. And he had just been raided, with the warrant looking for cannabis, cannabis seeds, and financial records. Fortunately, the raid was, well - a bust. Nothing was found, cops were red-faced, and my friend was fine. And pissed off. There is only one person who could have pointed the police to his business. Mr. Richard Baghdadlian, known to you as RC.

I don't doubt that RC was raided, and I don't doubt that his home and business were searched. In fact, I have confirmation they were. He was not arrested. He was at home when I called him, and has since shut off all contact with anyone. I called his lawyers (that little deal a few years ago with ~S, me, RC and OG had left me with all kinda interesting contacts) and they informed me they were not able to contact RC.

So, I'm gonna say it - and lemme tell you, this ain't easy, but now it's time to face some hard facts.

Richard Baghdadlian is co-operating with the authorities to save his own ass, at the expense of breeders, clients, and tens of thousands of members on his sites.

Anyone who had any financial transactions with RC in any way is at risk.

Anyone who posted on OG or CW is at risk. Those forums are gone, and will never be back - the security of every member has been comprimised.

I don't believe IP's were not logged on OG and CW. ~Shabang~ and I discussed this, and how ~S had originally set up the null logs, and db records. Since then, however, RC had instituted many 'anti-troll' features on the boards. Lemme 'splain...

Ask any troll here - if they posted from, say Proxy A one day, and then 3 days later from Proxy B, using the same handle, and admin got tired of them. So, they IP ban Proxy B, while the troll is still signed in. That's how RC would like you to believe it was done. However, if they then tried using a different handle, and Proxy A - well, damned if that one wasn't blocked as well. I can guarantee you that RC had gone back to some default settings to log IP's for everyone, all the time. There is no doubt.

RC is a rat.

OG and CW logged IP's.

The servers weren't seized - they didn't need to seize them - RC has given them complete access to the database records.

People are getting busted based on contact with RC.

I have given oldpink the heads-up a couple of hours ago that I was going to write this up and post it here. Kindly don't tear him up - he is working hard with little information, and is doing the best he can.

As many OG and CW refugees are also hanging at www.hg420.com, I've just got off the phone with Doc Chronic as well, so word of this will get out. (That's important, as that snivelling cunt-rag Gypsy likes to delete any quotes from me over at ICMag. Fuck off Gypsy, and stay outta my thread.)

If I have more information to offer later, I'll post it up in this thread.

If you have some information to give me, email is [email protected], or give me a call - from a safe phone, of course, at 07766 871 905 in the UK, 0044 7766 871 905 in Europe, and from N. America use 01144 7766 871 905.

Take care everyone, I hope you're all safe.

Love,

Plural of Mongoose

PS - if yer gonna quote this post over at other sites, kindly quote the entire post, thank you very much. Mongoose

PPS - Fuck you Richard Baghdadlian - FUCK YOU... Fuck you... fuck you...
 
About 48 hours ago I broke my 26 month long self-imposed exile from the internet to post the results of my converstations with RC.

That would already be enough to convince me that plural is only trying to stir shit. Anyone remember why he left in the first place? Because he stole a thousand C99 seeds from gypsy when he left the company.

Anyways, all speculation and bullshit theories aside.. Wait for some actual news, eh. Don't rely on shit posted at cannabisculture or planetganja, because all they do is whine about how RC is an asshole and they've been let down. Since OG went down all other cannabis forums have been in a bit of a forum war with each other, everyone's trying to outsmart each other to come up with the best, or rather, craziest story.
 
I can hardly wait for the next episode of "The Dung & The Seedless".....

Or it may just be the next episode of "As The Weed Turns".
 
lol.. mongoose just announcing that ips were logged without any evidence what so ever.. and wow someone got raided because dude wrote him a check. you don't have to be working with the cops for them to find out to whom you a wrote check because they can get your back records as evidence. 8(

the thing that i find most bizarre about the whole thing is the fact that there has been no media coverage or press release or anything. you'd think the canadian dea would be bragging about this all over
 
^ Well, it probably is an on-going investigation.

Meanwhile, this just came out:
Potheads show you’re not anonymous online
By Leif M. Wright
Phoenix Staff Writer


GreenThum43215: Hey, are you the Phoenix guy?
LeifMWright: Yes. Who’s this?
GreenThum43215: You interested in an internet story?
LeifMWright: I’m all ears.
GreenThum43215: Have you ever heard of overgrow.com?

That Internet chat began the weirdest column I’ve ever undertaken, one full of international intrigue, secret marijuana gardens, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, a shady character with an Armenian name, a former movie actor turned marijuana seed dealer and tens of thousands of freaked-out potheads who started what I call the Marijuana Bean Field Wars.

Overgrow.com was the world’s largest marijuana cultivation Web site, and possibly the largest single marketplace of illegal ideas in the history of the world. The site taught growers the ins and outs of the plant and how to increase their yields and ostensibly increase the THC content. THC is the chemical believed to cause the “high” of marijuana.

At its peak before Jan. 31, Overgrow.com had more than 100,000 active members — a massive amount for all but the largest web sites, and certainly for one that exchanged information that is illegal in most places.

Jan. 31, the site disappeared. Poof. Up in smoke, you might say.
It had warned users a couple of days earlier that it would be undergoing server upgrades, so expect some outages. So no one panicked.

A day later, the site was still gone. Potheads, who are notoriously paranoid already, began to wig out.

What if the site had been busted? Would members be subject to prosecution based on the information they had shared on the site? Had authorities been watching the whole time, building up information so they could attack?

The war begins


GreenThum43215: A lot of people around here are freaking out.

Probably an understatement.

I started searching the Internet for information about Overgrow.com. I found a slew of forums and dozens of sites repeating the same news: Overgrow.com and its parent site, Heaven’s Stairway, had been shut down, their Canadian owner arrested, his house raided and his family jailed.

Heaven’s Stairway was a seed distribution company. Marijuana growers call the seeds “beans.” Heaven’s Stairway, according to Canadian pot activist Marc Emery, had to be the largest seed merchant in North America, selling cannabis seeds all across Canada and the United States, and probably to other countries, too.

The stories on the Internet didn’t answer some key questions. Were the Web sites shut down by Canadian authorities, or were they, as Emery’s own bust nine months earlier, done in cooperation with the DEA?

Who was the mysterious owner of the sites, and what happened to him? Was he in jail? Was he out? Was he even alive?

What happened to the records of his seed business and the logs on his site that could possibly lead police to those who frequented the site?

Internet forums were atwitter with the details — or lack of them.

It seems the sites were owned by a Richard Calrisian in Montreal.
But later, it seemed “Calrisian” had been an alias. His real name was Richard Baghdadlian. And later, it seemed “Richard” was an alias, too. His real name, they asserted, was Hratch Baghdadlian.

No one seemed to be able to find any official records of his arrest, or even of an investigation.

That, the growers seemed unified in believing, was even more ominous. If the cops had busted Baghdadlian but hadn’t arrested him, it could be that they were still investigating — or worse, Baghdadlian was cooperating with them, singing like a canary, selling out seed customers, seed merchants and growers all over the continent.

I called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters in Ottawa.

“We don’t confirm or deny if there is an ongoing investigation,” said Sgt. Nathalie Dechenes, spokesman for the RCMP. “So we wouldn’t tell you either way. I don’t know if we even have authority to shut down Web sites.”

So I called Emery, who was busted nine months ago and is facing extradition to the United States on charges of selling marijuana seeds in the U.S.

“I’m facing 31 years in a maximum security federal prison,” Emery said. “It seems to me if Baghdadlian was facing the same thing, he might have started cooperating if they offered to drop the investigation in the U.S. and keep him in Canada.”

Emery had run a seed company in competition with Heaven’s Stairway. When he was busted, his computers were seized (“Nothing was on them,” he said), and his clients in the United States started receiving blue sheets of paper asking them to confirm orders they had placed with his company.

“It was essentially an effort to try to get them to incriminate themselves,” he said. “But most were smart enough to hit my Web site and find out it was the DEA and not us sending those notices out.”

Meanwhile, several cannabis-related sites were breaking out into full civil war over the Overgrow debacle.

On one side was a fomer movie actor who had had a bit part in a Jean-Claude VanDamme flick and now was calling himself “Gypsy Nirvana.” He claimed to have spoken with “RC,” which was a pseudonym for Baghdadlian (growers seem to be big on initials and acronyms).

RC, Nirvana assured everyone, had been arrested, but he was out on bail and he had shut down the servers when he learned of the impending raid — everyone’s information was safe.

Dissenters began to surface, however, saying Nirvana had a profit motive in mind; he wanted Heaven’s Stairway’s seed business.

On the other side was someone calling himself “Plural of Mongoose,” who apparently commanded great respect in the growing community. He also claimed to have spoken with RC, who had told him several lies, some of which, combined with a friend being busted, led him to believe RC was cooperating with the authorities.

Caught in the middle was Emery, whose own case had generated a lot of publicity, and who is loved by about half the growing community and violently hated by the other half. Emery’s initial statement on the matter had been that Baghdadlian, tired of the seed business, had decided it was time to bail, so he shut up shop and took off to greener pastures, no pun intended.

The battle raged on in Internet boards with Nirvana accusing Emery of being a jerk for revealing Baghdadlian’s name and phone number on his own site.

Others said Baghdadlian was the jerk for leaving his business partners high and dry, wondering if they could be busted at any time based on information from his servers.

No bust, no investigation, mom says
I called a number given on one site for Baghdadlian. A woman answered and gave her name as “Mrs. Baghdadlian.”

She confirmed that Hratch is her son and that he was the proprietor of Heaven’s Stairway and Overgrow.com.

“Nothing has happened, there is nothing right now,” she said in an Armenian accent. “He has not been arrested. There is no investigation.”

I asked her if Baghdadlian had shut the servers down himself. She started stuttering.

“Um,” she said. “I don’t think I can say anything more than this.”

I asked if she knew where I could reach him to talk to him. She said she did not.

“Wow,” Emery said when I told him about the conversation. “That sure lends credence to the idea that he took the money and ran.”

It’s possible that Baghdadlian had noticed an increased amount of government servers hitting his sites, saw the writing on the wall and bailed. Emery agreed it was possible.

“Before I was raided, about six weeks before, there was a huge Department of Justice focus on our Web site,” he said. “Our server logs revealed their IP addresses and we were able to do a whois on them and find out where the hits were coming from.”

Taking the money and running would explain Baghdadlian’s silence — and the silence of law enforcement, which had thrown a big media party when they busted Emery, patting themselves very publicly on the back for such a large takedown.

What does it mean to you?
The bottom line is those who were doing business with Baghdadlian and Emery were breaking the law if they were doing it in the United States — they took a tremendous risk to break the law, and they are likely wise to be worried.

Doing that business over the Internet may have given people a false sense of security, since the Internet allows people to feel “anonymous.”

In the marijuana growing community, the disappearance of Overgrow has made them rudely aware that Internet anonymity is an illusion.

For law enforcement, if there was no bust, they may still benefit from Baghdadlian’s disappearance. Growers all over the Internet were proclaiming that they were done — they were shutting their operations down for fear “LEO” would come get them based on information obtained from Baghdadlian’s debacle.

The net gain for law enforcement is a new paranoia in the cannabis-growing world — and fewer people growing, which means shorter supply and less headache for “LEO.”

The average, law-abiding citizen can take a good message away from the mess, too, though. The message:

“You’re never anonymous,” Emery said. “It’s impossible. Governments are investing huge amounts of money to monitor what’s going on on the Internet. If they’re interested in knowing something, they’ll get it.”

Protecting yourself over the Internet — even in legitimate business — should take top priority. You may never have thought about breaking a law yourself, but your information is scattered all over the Internet, and those with less scruples than you can easily gain access to it and use it to defraud you.

Be careful. The Internet is still a rough new frontier, much like Oklahoma was in the Land Run years. You may not be facing droughts and maurading bandits, but you face less-than-honest people who will take your information and use it to hurt you.

“Never do business with anyone who won’t give you a real name,” Emery said.

More importantly, never do online business with a company you haven’t thoroughly seen to be trustworthy. Even big companies suffer from “phishing,” where people will pretend to be the big companies and request personal information from you, which is later used to defraud you.

For those doing illegal business over the Internet, my advice is this: Just don’t.
http://muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060217/LIFESTYLE/60216045/1024

Bunch of crap though. Pretty clear he's got most of his info from emery.
 
themindlessone said:
Does the DEA and the canadian government REALLY have nothing better to do with their time and money? This is sickening.

to them, they think this is the greatest use of their resources ever.
 
That Marc Scott Emery sounds like a fucking oddball.

How is he facing 31 years in jail, I thought posession/sale of seeds was legal?

It all sounds to me like a lot of people trying to think they're big players and in the know when infact they appear to know fuck all about anything.
 
Out of all the posts and ideas ive heard on this topic, i think you just hit the nail on the head.

End of the day unless you're directly linked, who cares, there are other sites to read and plenty of good books out there if you want to grow...
 
A little bump. If anyone has been following the whole ordeal lately, shit seems to be really hitting the fan. The conspiracy theories sound far more plausible now.

All kinds of shit going on. Hope to know a little bit more in the coming few days.
 
Official word from the RCMP:
Media Advisory - The RCMP dismantles an international drug distribution network on the internet

MONTREAL, Feb. 28 /CNW Telbec/ - Members of the Marihuana Grow Operations
Enforcement Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police concluded their first major operation when they uncovered a Montreal based criminal organization involved in the trafficking, importation and exportation of cannabis seeds, as well as in conspiring for the purpose of cannabis cultivation via the Internet. This operation was launched in November 2004 under the name "Courriel" and culminated with the seizure of 200,000 cannabis seeds and the arrest of seven persons. The amount of seeds seized during the searches could have made it
possible to operate the equivalent of 500 cannabis greenhouses of 400 plants
each. To find out all the details of this operation, journalists are invited to
attend a press conference at the RCMP Headquarters in Quebec.

WHAT: Press conference
Project Courriel

WHERE: RCMP Headquarters
4225 Dorchester Blvd.
Westmount (Quebec)

WHEN: February 28, 2006
10 a.m.

The head of operations, RCMP Drug Section, an expert witness on marihuana and a representative of the RCMP Drug and Organized Crime Awareness Service will be available to answer questions from the media. It should be noted that Project "Courriel", a first in Canada, is the fruit of the work of the new Marihuana Grow Operations Enforcement Team. This new drug enforcement team is one of the seven teams established by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police across Canada in 2004 in an effort to target the scourge of marihuana.

For further information: Communications Office, (514) 939-8308
http://www.canadanewswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2006/28/c2223.html

RCMP announces dismantling of int'l drug ring
Updated Tue. Feb. 28 2006 5:15 PM ET

Canadian Press

MONTREAL — The RCMP seized 200,000 cannabis seeds and arrested seven people who allegedly operated a cyberspace drug ring that sold, imported and exported marijuana seeds on the Internet.

The RCMP said Tuesday it's the first time they've targeted marijuana seeds and their sale on the Internet.

The international company, Heaven's Stairway, set up six websites where cannabis seeds could be ordered online, the RCMP told a news conference.

Sgt. Maj. Andre Potvin said the orders were picked up in Montreal area post office boxes and then processed.

The company processed approximately 30 orders of cannabis seeds a day, averaging $100 each, Potvin said.

"The investigation confirmed that Heaven's Stairway operated in Quebec, Canada, North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world from at least 1997 to January 31, 2006," Potvin said.

Nine searches were carried out in the last week of January to gather evidence in Montreal and Laval, north of the city.

Potvin said the cannabis seeds were seized along with more than $183,000 US and three one-kilogram gold bricks.

The RCMP said the amount of seeds seized during the searches could have made it possible to operate about 500 cannabis greenhouses of 400 plants each.

Potvin said that would represent 42 million joints sold on the street.

"If we make an analysis of the Canadian population of about 30 million, I don't think every Canadian would consume 1.5 joints every day," he added.

He said the cannabis seeds are believed to be from suppliers in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.

A seizure of seeds was recently made in Vancouver.

The alleged head of the company is Richard Hratch Baghdadlian, a 38-year-old Montreal man.

His wife Natalia Baghdadlian, 40, is also among the six accused who worked for the company and allegedly acted as couriers.

They all face a total of 49 charges, including possession of cannabis seeds for the purpose of trafficking, and if convicted could be imprisoned for 10 years.

Potvin also said not all cannabis seeds are illegal, but that wasn't the case with the thousands which were seized.

"Some cannabis seeds are non-viable, which means they will not produce a level of THC, the reactive substance in marijuana plants.

"If it's below I think something like 1.5 per cent, basically it's not considered a viable seed. Obviously that would not be considered a criminal infraction in Canada," he said.

Potvin said there are growing operations in Quebec where it's legal to grow marijuana plants for hemp clothing "and other artifacts."

Marijuana activist Marc-Boris Saint-Maurice attended the news conference where the details of the seizure were released.

He said since the website has been closed down the whole international cannabis community has been "up in arms."

"There is the impression that seeds are legal in Canada and this case is unprecedented," Saint-Maurice said.

"The upcoming court case is going to be important to try to figure out the actual status of seeds."

The investigation, called Project Courriel (which means e-mail in French) was launched in November 2004 by the Marijuana Grow Operations Enforcement Team, a special RCMP investigative team.

Attention News Editors:
The RCMP dismantles an international drug distribution network on the internet

MONTREAL, Feb. 28 /CNW Telbec/ - The members of the Marihuana Grow
Operations Enforcement Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police concluded
their first major operation when they uncovered a Montreal based criminal
organization involved in the trafficking, importation and exportation of
cannabis seeds, as well as in conspiring for the purpose of cannabis
cultivation via the Internet. This operation was launched in November 2004
under the name "Courriel" and culminated with the seizure of 200,000 cannabis
seeds and the arrest of seven persons.
Project "Courriel" revealed that Richard Hratch BAGHDADLIAN, 38, from
Marsan Street in Montreal, and six other persons operated the Heaven's
Stairway company. This company was on the web claiming to be the North
American supplier for indoor and outdoor cannabis production.
The cybercompany Heaven's Stairway used the Internet sites hempqc.com,
cannabisworld.com, overgrow.com, eurohemp.com, cannabisseeds.com, and
cannabisbay.com. These sites were used to order cannabis seeds online and
obtain information on cannabis cultivation. These Internet sites also
suggested ways to outsmart the police.
Richard Hratch BAGHDADLIAN was the instigator, head and main beneficiary
of the illicit company Heaven's Straiway. The other six accused acted as
couriers and performed other duties for the company. They are Geoffrey CHAN,
33, Maria Cristina CIVITILLO, 32, Natalie BAGHDADLIAN, 40, Manuel Bento
FERNANDES, 45, Christopher ALMOND, 38, and Teresa RODRIGUES, 39. They all live
in Montreal except Christopher ALMOND who lives in Ville Saint-Laurent.
The organization processed approximately 30 orders of cannabis seeds a
day averaging $100 each. The seeds were sent to clients by regular mail.
The seven people are facing 49 charges under the Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act and the Criminal Code of Canada. The offences were committed in
Quebec, Canada, North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world
between March 12, 1998 and January 31, 2006.
Nine searches were carried out during the week of January 30, 2006 in
order to gather evidence that criminal activities had been committed. The
searches were conducted in Montreal and Laval, as well as in the residences of
three of the accused, a business, three post office boxes, a vehicle and a
safe-deposit box.
These searches led to the seizure of 200,000 cannabis seeds, more than
$183,362 in US currencies and $14,000 in Canadian currencies, both in cash and
postal money orders, three one-kilogram gold bricks, a Harley-Davidson
motorcycle, a Mazda RX8 and many purchase orders. Since the searches were
conducted, 272 orders have been intercepted by the police.

The amount of seeds seized during the searches could have made it
possible to operate approximately 500 cannabis greenhouses of 400 plants each,
which represent 42 million joints sold on the street.
The seven accused are liable to 10 years' imprisonment. Since the
possession of cannabis seeds is illegal under Schedule II of the Controlled
Drugs and Substances Act, clients of the network could also receive a visit
from the police.

It should be noted that Project "Courriel", a first in Canada, is the
fruit of the work of the new Marihuana Grow Operations Enforcement Team. This
new drug enforcement team is one of the seven teams established by the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police across Canada in 2004 to combat the scourge of
marihuana. The main objectives of these teams are to interdict drugs before
they arrive in our communities and to target and destroy the infrastructure
and the networks used by criminal organizations involved in marihuana
production. These organizations constitute a threat to public safety and well-
being.
 
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Yeah, it made it on the local news, and i had to watch it again to confirm that they were talking about OG. fucking sucks.
 
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