One of the men arrested during the largest marijuana grow-operation bust Whitehorse has ever seen won another victory against his prosecutors this week, with the return of more than $11,000 in cash.

The money was seized from the man on Sept. 22, 2005 during a police raid on three homes in Copper Ridge.

The RCMP drug squad had obtained warrants to search the homes. At the time they were being executed, the sergeant in charge of the bust ordered his officers to arrest anyone seen entering or leaving any of the residences and arrest them for the production of marijuana and theft of electricity.

At 2:58 p.m., a man was seen leaving the house and officers followed.

The man was arrested and the police searched his vehicle, a Toyota Camry; tucked between the front seats they found a plastic bag containing $11,400 in cash.

No drugs or equipment typically used in the production of marijuana were found in the vehicle.

The officers who searched the vehicle did not have a search warrant at the time, although they obtained one later.

The man was eventually charged, along with eight others arrested during the bust, which hit six homes in total.

During the raid, police seized more than $100,00 worth of grow-op equipment, and about 4,000 marijuana plants, as well as cell phones, vehicles and cash.

At the time, police estimated the value of the drugs seized to be between $2 million and $5 million.

Of the nine men charged, five were acquitted by territorial court judge Karen Ruddy. She found that several of the arrests had been unlawful and were not based on any reasonable suspicion of guilt.

She also said the warrantless search of the Camry was unlawful, because the look and feel of the bag in no way indicated it contained drugs or any other dangerous or illegal object.

In fact, the officer who opened the bag said at trial it felt like a "paint palette book” and that he opened it because he was "curious”.

The acquittals were appealed by the Crown, but the appeal was later dropped.

This week, Ruddy ordered the Crown to return the $11,400 to the man's lawyer.

She also told the prosecutor to try to contact the owners of the grow-op gear still being held by police before she gives permission to destroy the equipment.