Three gun-wielding crooks who tried to steal $1-million worth of marijuana ended up alerting police instead.

The large scale operation was discovered inside a butcher shop called Scotch Corners Wild Game in Carleton Place.

Just after 1 a.m. early Wednesday morning, three men broke into the business owner's home, threatened him with what appeared to be a handgun and forced their way into the business.

Once inside the butcher shop, the business owner managed to call 911 and escaped the building.

Once the OPP got inside the building however, they found around 900 marijuana plants and arrested the business owner as well as the crooks.

Around six pounds of dried marijuana, over 200 ecstasy tablets, four grams of cocaine, a fake handgun and a quantity of cash were also found on the property.

The owner, David John Kleiboer, 40, is charged with production of marijuana. Abel Santana-Solano, 29, Omar Ganzalez-Romero, 22, and Euclides Cortez, 20, are charged with break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence.

Additional charges are pending. All four accused men have been held in custody and will appear again in Perth provincial court on Monday.