PotShot

Suspect trying to make hash blows up Thetford Mines hotel room
CP | Brandon Sun Online | Saturday, January 21st, 2006

THETFORD MINES, Que. (CP) - A 29-year-old man trying to make hashish was one of three people slightly hurt Saturday following an explosion and fire in his hotel room, police said.

The blast at the Bal Moral hotel, in Thetford Mines in south-central Quebec, caused serious damage to the building.

It ripped through the man's room just after 5 a.m. He escaped by jumping out one of the blown-out windows.

A man in the next room was slightly hurt, as was a firefighter, one of about 40 called to put out the fire.

"I didn't have much, but now I have nothing. I have the clothes on my back and my car, which was far enough away," hotel guest Linda Rodrique told the all-news channel LCN.

Another guest, Simon Couture, said a TV set was thrown against him by the force of the blast.

"It's awfully stupid that a young guy who wants to make three or four hundred bucks has to put people in the street like this," he said.

A dozen rooms in the hotel were damaged by the blast, which tore a hole in the roof.

Police later seized drugs and drug-making equipment. The suspect is expected to charged in court on Monday.

Hashish is made by separating cannabis resin from marijuana plants, sometimes using chemicals.

Thetford MInes, once a hub for one of the world's largest asbestos-producing regions, has recently fallen on hard times.

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