Pubdate: Thu, 22 Sep 2005
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2005 Star Tribune
Contact: http://www.startribune.com/dynamic/feedback/form.php?opinion=1
Website: http://www.startribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/266
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

7,000 MARIJUANA PLANTS DESTROYED IN STEELE COUNTY

Investigators cut down and destroyed 7,000 marijuana plants found
Wednesday in a Steele County soybean field, denying dealers a
potential $190,000 haul from the sale of the plants, authorities said.

The discovery was one of the largest in recent years.

"You could see them from the road, and eventually what happened was
that there were people going out there and harvesting the plants, and
that's how we got onto that they were there," said Sgt. Roger
Schroeder of the Northfield Police Department and the unit commander
of the South Central Drug Investigation Unit.

The plants, some of them 8 feet tall and towering above the beans,
were growing in a concentrated area and appeared to have been
cultivated, Schroeder said. Investigators questioned the landowner,
but determined that someone else was tending the marijuana without the
farmer's knowledge.

"They had no idea the plants were there," Schroeder said.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake