The growing season is over, and Texas officials say they reaped a record crop in at least one agricultural area: marijuana.
Law enforcement agencies seized nearly 62,000 pot plants in 2009, the most ever eradicated in Texas, said Duane Steen of the Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division. The biggest operations were uncovered in North Texas.
In 2008, the eradication program, funded by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, seized 36,280 plants. In 2007, 40,172 plants were seized.
Oklahoma officials seized 65,444 plants from 145 plots, said Mark Woodard of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. More than 30,000 of those were from one operation spread out over miles of the Kaimichi Mountains in eastern Oklahoma. It was one of the largest marijuana operations ever found in the state, he said.
What stands out about the pot fields discovered this year is the growers' increasing sophistication, officials said.
"These were big organized grows," Steen said. "These weren't just people growing a little marijuana. These were highly organized with somebody finding the property and then setting up growing and distribution operations.
"We've had several different types of groups behind these grows. We've had an Asian group in Dallas and some others related to cartels in Mexico. Some others are still under investigation, but we know these were organized groups," Steen said.
Woodard said the big Oklahoma operation was the work of one well-organized group. Two illegal immigrants from Mexico were arrested, and they admitted that crews took turns working the marijuana fields, he said.
A big part of the record seizure in Texas was uncovered just south of Dallas in Ellis and Navarro counties in September when law enforcement agencies destroyed more than 16,000 plants. The marijuana was grown in well-cared-for plots secreted away in heavily wooded areas with reliable water sources, police said.
In one grow, the pot farmers had built 10-foot-tall platforms to elevate large water containers used in elaborate drip-irrigation systems utilizing hundreds of yards of irrigation hoses.
"It's relatively high-intensity gardening . . . but the plants are very well-cared for" and highly potent, said Mike Cox, chief deputy of the Navarro County Sheriff's Department.
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the Navarro County operations, he said.
"They were basically the poor farmhands working the fields. The real money, we haven't gotten to them yet, but we are still trying," Cox said.
Most of the pot found in recent years in Navarro County was on property owned by absentee landlords, he said. People need to stay abreast of what is going on at their property, he said.
Cox said he can understand why Mexican drug cartels would shift into "homegrown" marijuana.
"They've figured out that it's safer up here. They aren't killing everyone here like they are in Mexico – that gang war is scary. But they are importing their expertise to where they might not get killed.
"But we probably hurt their profit lines this year," Cox said.
In the Oklahoma raids, Woodard said 18 people were arrested and 29 guns seized. "These are people growing with a purpose, and they are willing to protect it," he said.
Steen, a veteran DPS drug investigator, said he was staggered by the size of this year's grows.
"To see it creep up to this level is mind-boggling," he said. "I am very interested in seeing what all is behind this. Is it higher demand? Is it the economy? Is it the drug cartels? You also wonder about the effect of the crackdown on the border and all the violence in Mexico. It's so many factors that you hate to say it's one reason."
With cold weather nipping the growing season in the bud, law enforcement efforts will now shift to indoor operations, which have been increasing steadily over the last five years, Steen said.
"You can hunt the outdoor grows" through aerial surveillance, he said. "The indoor ones are more difficult to detect. We have to wait for intelligence or for someone to stumble on it."
News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Star-Telegram.com
Author: STEVE CAMPBELL
Contact: Star-Telegram.com
Copyright: Star-Telegram
Website:Texas authorities seized record crop of marijuana this growing season
Law enforcement agencies seized nearly 62,000 pot plants in 2009, the most ever eradicated in Texas, said Duane Steen of the Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division. The biggest operations were uncovered in North Texas.
In 2008, the eradication program, funded by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, seized 36,280 plants. In 2007, 40,172 plants were seized.
Oklahoma officials seized 65,444 plants from 145 plots, said Mark Woodard of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. More than 30,000 of those were from one operation spread out over miles of the Kaimichi Mountains in eastern Oklahoma. It was one of the largest marijuana operations ever found in the state, he said.
What stands out about the pot fields discovered this year is the growers' increasing sophistication, officials said.
"These were big organized grows," Steen said. "These weren't just people growing a little marijuana. These were highly organized with somebody finding the property and then setting up growing and distribution operations.
"We've had several different types of groups behind these grows. We've had an Asian group in Dallas and some others related to cartels in Mexico. Some others are still under investigation, but we know these were organized groups," Steen said.
Woodard said the big Oklahoma operation was the work of one well-organized group. Two illegal immigrants from Mexico were arrested, and they admitted that crews took turns working the marijuana fields, he said.
A big part of the record seizure in Texas was uncovered just south of Dallas in Ellis and Navarro counties in September when law enforcement agencies destroyed more than 16,000 plants. The marijuana was grown in well-cared-for plots secreted away in heavily wooded areas with reliable water sources, police said.
In one grow, the pot farmers had built 10-foot-tall platforms to elevate large water containers used in elaborate drip-irrigation systems utilizing hundreds of yards of irrigation hoses.
"It's relatively high-intensity gardening . . . but the plants are very well-cared for" and highly potent, said Mike Cox, chief deputy of the Navarro County Sheriff's Department.
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the Navarro County operations, he said.
"They were basically the poor farmhands working the fields. The real money, we haven't gotten to them yet, but we are still trying," Cox said.
Most of the pot found in recent years in Navarro County was on property owned by absentee landlords, he said. People need to stay abreast of what is going on at their property, he said.
Cox said he can understand why Mexican drug cartels would shift into "homegrown" marijuana.
"They've figured out that it's safer up here. They aren't killing everyone here like they are in Mexico – that gang war is scary. But they are importing their expertise to where they might not get killed.
"But we probably hurt their profit lines this year," Cox said.
In the Oklahoma raids, Woodard said 18 people were arrested and 29 guns seized. "These are people growing with a purpose, and they are willing to protect it," he said.
Steen, a veteran DPS drug investigator, said he was staggered by the size of this year's grows.
"To see it creep up to this level is mind-boggling," he said. "I am very interested in seeing what all is behind this. Is it higher demand? Is it the economy? Is it the drug cartels? You also wonder about the effect of the crackdown on the border and all the violence in Mexico. It's so many factors that you hate to say it's one reason."
With cold weather nipping the growing season in the bud, law enforcement efforts will now shift to indoor operations, which have been increasing steadily over the last five years, Steen said.
"You can hunt the outdoor grows" through aerial surveillance, he said. "The indoor ones are more difficult to detect. We have to wait for intelligence or for someone to stumble on it."
News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Star-Telegram.com
Author: STEVE CAMPBELL
Contact: Star-Telegram.com
Copyright: Star-Telegram
Website:Texas authorities seized record crop of marijuana this growing season
