More than 590 pot plants were seized from the south Aldergrove home where Langley’s first murder took place last Friday night.
Two men have been arrested and charged for the marijuana grow operation. They made their first appearances in court this week.
Abbotsford’s Craig Challenger, 27, and Surrey resident Taylor Mears, 32, are both charged with production of a controlled substance in connection to a grow op in a home in the 900-block of 272 Street.
Both men have been released and are expected again in Surrey Provincial Court on March 26. Challenger doesn’t appear to have any criminal background. Mears, however, was convicted of possession of a controlled substance dating back to 2000 in White Rock.
It was last Friday night that Surrey resident Korey Tyler Kelly, 25, was shot to death while attempting to rob a grow op that the two men are now charged with cultivating. It doesn’t appear there were any other people at the Aldergrove home.
They were interviewed as persons of interest in the crime but have not been charged in connection to the murder of Kelly. No arrests have been made for Langley’s first homicide of the year.
Langley RCMP’s drug section went into the Aldergrove grow op home the day after the murder. They dismantled a grow op of more than 590 plants, said Langley RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Holly Marks.
The drug section only focused on the grow op so she didn’t know if other evidence was seized from the home.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team believe Kelly, along with two associates attempted to rob the grow op at 272 Street. That’s when Kelly was shot multiple times.
Kelly’s associates managed to get a bleeding and unconscious Kelly into the backseat of their car and drive away, calling 911 in the process, said IHIT spokesperson Sgt. Jennifer Pound.
Police officers en route to the 911 call were flagged down by Kelly’s associates. The victim was taken by ambulance but died on the way to hospital.
Kelly has a history of ripping off grow ops, including an attempted murder charge involving a violent home invasion, grow rip in Surrey in 2004.
He was sentenced to a year in prison for that crime, but was sentenced to a lesser charge of breaking and entering.
He had been actively committing crime for a decade, facing numerous charges for possessing firearms, after being banned from it, as well as possession and production of drugs and breaching his conditions.
