FruityBud
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In what may be the first of several such discoveries in Utah this year, a Wayne County man found 29,000 marijuana plants on a remote hillside, police said.
The seedlings were less than two weeks old, but if they had matured, they could be worth up to $29 million, said Central Utah Narcotics Task Force Commander Jeff Whatcott.
"It's probably one of the largest [fields] in the state," he said. "I don't know what the survival rate is, but it would have been a large grow."
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent Rodney Holliday said the field was not plotted in a square, instead, there was a patchwork of scattered plants.
"This was just like, 'We'll put some here and here and here,'" Holliday said.
The field was seen Sunday by a man out riding an all-terrain vehicle on Boulder Mountain, Whatcott said.
He noticed a black plastic irrigation pipe and then the marijuana plants. The man returned and alerted the Wayne County Sheriff's Office. After watching the site all night, deputies removed the plants Monday.
Officers believe that people tending the plants and living in a camp nearby fled at the sound of the ATV. No arrests have been made.
Deputies are looking for fingerprints and other evidence left behind. Police believe the growers had been there about three to four weeks, and if the field had not been found, they would have stayed until the plants matured in 90 to 120 days.
Law enforcement seized about 90,000 marijuana plants growing on Utah land in 2008. Frank Smith, the assistant special agent in charge at the DEA office in Salt Lake City, said he thinks more plants will be found this year as drug cartels continue moving to Utah.
"There are a lot of enforcement efforts on the West Coast that will push some [growers] our way," Smith said.
hxxp://shuurl.com/G4917
The seedlings were less than two weeks old, but if they had matured, they could be worth up to $29 million, said Central Utah Narcotics Task Force Commander Jeff Whatcott.
"It's probably one of the largest [fields] in the state," he said. "I don't know what the survival rate is, but it would have been a large grow."
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent Rodney Holliday said the field was not plotted in a square, instead, there was a patchwork of scattered plants.
"This was just like, 'We'll put some here and here and here,'" Holliday said.
The field was seen Sunday by a man out riding an all-terrain vehicle on Boulder Mountain, Whatcott said.
He noticed a black plastic irrigation pipe and then the marijuana plants. The man returned and alerted the Wayne County Sheriff's Office. After watching the site all night, deputies removed the plants Monday.
Officers believe that people tending the plants and living in a camp nearby fled at the sound of the ATV. No arrests have been made.
Deputies are looking for fingerprints and other evidence left behind. Police believe the growers had been there about three to four weeks, and if the field had not been found, they would have stayed until the plants matured in 90 to 120 days.
Law enforcement seized about 90,000 marijuana plants growing on Utah land in 2008. Frank Smith, the assistant special agent in charge at the DEA office in Salt Lake City, said he thinks more plants will be found this year as drug cartels continue moving to Utah.
"There are a lot of enforcement efforts on the West Coast that will push some [growers] our way," Smith said.
hxxp://shuurl.com/G4917
.. are quite evil too!.
