Alright, whose pot farm leaked?

Newsday: Water leak leads to pot bust
Rocco Parascandola
Staff Writer
February 27, 2006

A call about a water leak at a Prospect Heights building Sunday turned into a major narcotics investigation when firefighters found a hydroponic marijuana operation inside an apartment, police sources and fire officials said.

The man and woman who rent the fifth-floor Brooklyn apartment were still being sought Sunday night, police sources said.

The smell of the marijuana was unmistakable in the hallway of 699 Classon Ave., police sources said, yet it did not appear anyone had called to complain about the odor.

Shortly before 8:30 a.m. Sunday, however, a fourth-floor resident called 911 about a water leak.

Responding firefighters went to the apartment directly above the resident, but no one answered their knocks. Once they entered the apartment they found a full-scale hydroponic marijuana operation, with plants and equipment in the two bedrooms.

Hydroponic marijuana is a high-grade plant that is grown without soil.

It wasn't immediately clear how much marijuana was in the apartment or how long the operation was in place.

Police were taking steps late Sunday to get a warrant that would allow them to search the entire apartment.

Authorities in December broke up an alleged drug ring that during the preceding six years delivered hydroponic marijuana to the doorsteps of regular customers in Manhattan and on Long Island.

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.