After spending Tuesday in the air aboard a North Carolina Army National Guard helicopter, Caldwell County drug agents located and seized 108 marijuana plants worth an estimated $259,200.
Inter-County Counter Drug Enforcement agents recovered plants ranging from 2 to 7 feet tall in the Oak Hill community, Granite Falls, and north Caldwell County. The plants came from five separate locations, Detective B.J. Fore of the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office said.
One man, Dusty William Pennell, has already been arrested in connection with the operation.
Investigators were interviewing Pennell, 24, of Oak Hill School Road, about an unrelated breaking and entering case when they spotted a marijuana-growing operation at his home and took him into custody, Fore said.
Pennell was charged with felony manufacturing marijuana, felony breaking and entering, felony larceny and felony possession of stolen property, and jailed under a $50,000 secured bond.
The I.C.E. agents will continue their investigation and more arrests are expected.
"Most of the plants seized were at full maturity and had been professionally cared for. With it being harvest time, our eradication efforts will definitely continue," Sheriff Alan C. Jones said.
The sheriff's office flies periodic search missions from late spring through late fall — the peak marijuana-growing season.
"We fly as often as we can," Fore said.
The State Bureau of Investigation assisted with the operation.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement