DNR removes 3,100 marijuana plants, cites ties to drug cartel
BROWN COUNTY (WISH) – The Department of Natural Resources reported that they found and eliminated 3,100 marijuana plants in southern Brown County on Tuesday.
The DNR said that they worked with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department on a tip that the plants were being grown on private property, and that early reports indicated that the drug growing operation may have ties to a Mexican drug cartel.
Authorities said the plants were worth at least $1 million.
Brown County Sheriff Scott Southerland told 24-Hour News 8 that the grow operation was located about a quarter-mile into the woods off State Road 135, near Story.
While an operation of this size is out of the ordinary for Brown County, the sheriff wasn’t surprised it was going on.
“It’s rural, it’s remote, but yet it’s fairly close to Indy or Louisville. So they could take their groups out, spread out in different areas and grow like this,” Southerland said. “It certainly cuts down on the risk associated with smuggling it across the border or transporting it from Arizona to Indianapolis.”
Law enforcement received an anonymous tip early Saturday morning about the plants. Police said that all of the plants had buds, were ready to be harvested and that there was sufficient evidence that the growers were living on the property.
The food containers of the growers were in Spanish, and police believe there is a cartel connection.
Sheriff Southerland said the owner of the property where the plants were found is not from the area and had no idea what was happening on the property. He also noted that the owner was extremely upset upon learning the information.
The drug bust is one of the biggest ever in Brown County according to Southerland. However, the impact of the bust may not be as much as some might expect.
“It would make a small dent. I think in the overall scheme of things it’s a drop in the bucket,” said Southerland. “Of course we’re more worried about the heroin and meth and if someone were to tell me where there’s a field with 3100 grams of heroin in it, we’d certainly go get it.”
According to Sheriff Southerland, all the plants have been incinerated. He said the highway department dug a hole in an undisclosed location, buried the incinerated plants and covered the hole.
Investigators said they have a few leads into who might have been running the operation. Southerland said it’s likely the people tending to the plants were either scared away by the person who found the operation or by the officers as they got close to the scene. He believes they might have had a lookout or some sort of system to warn them if people were around.
When asked about the message this bust sends to people who may be trying to grow drugs in the woods, the sheriff had a strong message.
“”The odds of them getting caught are pretty high,” Southerland said. “There’s a lot of hunters in the woods and they notice things that are out of place. So they’re probably going to get caught or they’re going to lose a lot of their hard work.”
Sheriff Southerland said that anyone in the woods who discovers something like this should leave the area immediately and then call 911.
