When RCMP in Castlegar, B.C., busted a major marijuana grow-op outside of town recently, they weren't expecting fumes from the proceeds to later waft across town.

Officers discovered more than a thousand marijuana plants growing indoors while executing a warrant at the rural property on Jan. 6.

They seized the pot and recommended charges to the Crown. But then there was the issue of what to do with all of those plants.

"Having them lie around, they cause a health risk to the staff and puts our secure exhibit storage handling at its capacity," said Cpl. Dave Johnson.

To resolve the issue, Johnson said the detachment got an emergency destruction order from Health Canada and they decided to have a big fire in Castlegar.

"Fire department were on scene to supervise it and conducted a large scale burn of the evidence," he said.

"It's just a matter of basically making a bonfire."

Unfortunately, the winds didn't cooperate and some of that smoke drifted across Castlegar, which prompted at least one complaint from the non-smoking public.

"It's unfortunate. It's not what we planned but in this case it was the safest way to dispose of it."

With files from Bob Keating