Marijuana Worth $3.6 Million Seized in Cullman County, AL

Soft Secrets
26 Oct 2015

About 1,800 pot plants seized in Alabama; suspects remain at large


About 1,800 pot plants seized in Alabama; suspects remain at large

[Credit: Cullman County Sheriff's Office]

Almost two-thousand Cannabis plants were seized in Cullman County, AL on Thursday, October 22. The following day, Sheriff Matt Gentry informed the press that all of the plants had been situated on private property that was located off of Highway 92 near the Arkadelphia area.

According to the Sheriff, this is the second largest pot bust in the state thus far in 2015 and the haul is worth an estimated $3.6 million. Authorities labored for around five hours to cut down the crop. A report of suspicious activity in the forest led to the bust, according to the sheriff.

"Due to the size of the plant and amount it would be almost physically impossible to carry them out so it was easier to attach them to a helicopter and pull them out," according to Sheriff Gentry.

The sheriff suggested that a group of squatters in tents had inhabited the property around six to eight months prior to the bust, explaining that, "They had shelter, they had food they were basically living off the land while they were farming their marijuana plants."

He explained how the illegal farmers had evaded detection, saying, "They're notorious for moving in on timber land in very rural areas of the state or county, because there's not a lot of human activity there, and they can go unnoticed for months. Unless we spot them by air or receive citizen information, they go almost undetected."

While illegal marijuana grow operations increase across the state of Alabama, Gentry vows to continue hunting them down and dismantling them. "You don't want drugs in your community and that's one of things we are stressing with in our agency no matter what we're going to go after drug distributors and traffickers," he said.

The sheriff continued, "Drugs lead to people committing burglaries, thefts and the more arrests we can make on drugs the less they can break into house and that sort of thing."

No arrests have been made in connection with the weed plant seizure, but police presence in the area has increased.

 

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