The North District Emergency Response Team and the CRIME (Cariboo Region Integrated Marijuana Enforcement) Task Force assisted in the high-risk raid in the 13000-block Chief Lake Road, just outside the boundary of Prince George city limits.
The road was shut down for 30 minutes while the Emergency Response Team (ERT) secured the property.
Gerald Robert Cunningham, 234, was arrested at the residence while Jason Dennis Townsend, 34, was arrested nearby as he left the property.
Both men were known to police.
Cunningham has been charged with production of a controlled substance and possession for the purposes of trafficking.
Townsend, a former Outlaw Motorcycle gang member, has been charged with possession of a prohibited weapon and possession of a firearm contrary to a prohibited order.
Roughly 20 officers took part in the daylight raid, which was deemed high risk because of the men involved.
“It turned out there was an assault rifle in there with a fully-loaded 30 round clip,” said RCMP spokesman Gary Godwin.
Both men were arrested without incident and approximately 150 marijuana plants were seized.
“Whether (RCMP) can attribute that to our strong show of force, we don’t know,” Godwin said.
Godwin says it is becoming increasingly necessary to call in the ERT team in the execution of a search warrant for a suspected gro-op.
“A lot of these grow ops are protected. They are protected by the people that are guarding them with . . . illegal semi-automatic assault rifles or semi-automatic pistols,” said Godwin.
“(The RCMP is) better off with a highly trained (ERT) team that has ballistic shields and special weapons training to get into these residences,” he added.
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Mike Raptis
