Police in Guelph say more than $1.3 million in marijuana has been seized after raids on two separate grow-ops in the city within hours of each other on Thursday evening.
At a residence at 193 Fife Road, a search found 346 marijana plants and 192.9 grams of marijuana, with a total combined value of nearly $350,000.
A second warrant was executed at a home at 129 Downey Road, where a search found 989 plants and 732 grams of marijuana. The combined value is nearly $1 million.
Guelph Police Sgt. Doug Pflug says "Both of these investigations are separate although parallel investigations. We're satisfied we have all the arrested parties in custody."
Two men have been charged in connection with the investigation.
Duy Thuyen Nguyen, 29, and Van Dung Pham, 50, both of Guelph, face charges including production of a controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking, theft of hydro under $5,000.
Pflug says "Not only are we getting the street level dealers but now we're also getting those who are producing marijuana and distributing it abroad."
While most neighbours say the police activity in their area was unexpected, others say you couldn't ignore the smell.
George Glumac's property backs onto the house raided on Downey Road and he says "Over the last several months the odour from the property has gotten worse and worse."
He wasn't surprised when police showed up at all.
"We never saw any people around the property. We never saw them outside. When their van came into the garage it closed, the door closed immediately."
While police say no one was living in the Downey Road house, there were people living in the Fife Road residence.
A neighbour on Fife Road tells CTV News the tenants in the semi-detached house had only moved in a few months ago.
Residents were surprised to hear there was a grow op in the family-friendly neighbourhood, but say it won't change how they feel about the area.
Glen Bevcar lives on Fife Road and says "For the most part it doesn't change my attitude and it wouldn't make me get up and want to move."
Police say the last big bust in the city, about six months ago, was similar in size.
They hope people will keep an eye on things in their own neighbourhood because, Pflug says, "Not only did it pose a great safety risk to the people in the home, but to the neighbours if something had caught fire or someone got electrocuted."
Anyone with concerns about possible grow-ops in their neighbourhood are asked to call Crime Stoppers.
