Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jun 2008
Source: News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
Copyright: 2008 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact: http://www.newsobserver.com/484/story/433256.html
Website: http://www.news-observer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: Martha Quillin
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

HARNETT POT WAS WORTH $84 MILLION

MAMERS - State and local law enforcement brought in an early harvest 
this week, yanking 35,000 marijuana plants out of the ground in what 
may have been the biggest single haul in Harnett County history. Lt. 
Todd Woodard, who oversees the aviation unit of the N.C. Highway 
Patrol, said his officers were making a regular scouting flight 
looking for marijuana by helicopter when they spotted the crop 
Tuesday. The patrol, along with the N.C. National Guard and State 
Bureau of Investigation, fly the state throughout the growing season, 
Woodard said, coordinating with teams on the ground.

Last year, because of the drought, the air patrols didn't find as 
many plots as they have in the past, Woodard said. But the Harnett 
County operation was shaping up to be a bumper crop.

Maj. Eddie Holder of the Harnett County Sheriff's Office said it 
appeared that some of the plants had been started right after the 
last frost; the tallest had grown to about 4 feet, and the smallest 
were about 18 inches. At maturity -- about 8 feet, Holder said -- a 
single plant can be harvested, dried and sold on the street for about $2,400.

That would make the plants found Tuesday worth about $84 million. "I 
understand they have chemicals that can interact with the growth of 
the plant like they do with chickens, that make them grow faster and 
mature faster," Holder said.

Holder said the plants were scattered over eight plots in an area off 
U.S. 421 west of Lillington, a region where officers have found 
marijuana crops before. The plants were found in an overgrown timber 
cut, a remote area covered with pine trees and thorny underbrush, and 
bordered by dead-end roads and a branch of a creek that feeds into 
the Cape Fear River. Holder said that it probably took several people 
to tend the plants and that they likely worked on the crop every day. 
Officers found a shelter where it appeared someone may have stayed 
overnight at times, and it looked as if someone had been hauling 
water from the creek to keep the plants moist. "Matter of fact," 
Holder said, "the ground was still wet in some places. That's how 
close we were."

No arrests were made, Holder said, but officers are investigating. 
After photographing the operation and saving a handful of plants for 
evidence, officers pulled the rest out of the ground. Holder said 
that even with off-duty deputies called in to help, it took six 
hours. After that, he said, the plants were "taken to the local 
landfill and interacted with some kerosene and a match."

One other thing of interest officers found, Holder said, was a 
container of Deer Off, designed to keep deer, rabbits and squirrels 
away from plants.
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