OFFICERS UPROOT 250 POT PLANTS

ST. PAULS - Lawmen uprooted more than 250 marijuana plants in woods near
St. Pauls on Tuesday. They were to be destroyed later that night.

No one has been arrested.

Sheriff's Lt. C.T. Strickland said the plants have an estimated street
value of $100,000. Most of the plants were found in some woods, though some
of the plants were located behind residences.

The plants ranged in height from 2 to 12 feet tall, said Strickland, head
of the Sheriff's Office's Drug Enforcement Division.

A small-engine plane provided by State of Bureau of Investigation spotted
the plants from the air and radioed to officers on the ground as to where
to find the distinctive plants in the thick brush.

The Sheriff's Office routinely conducts searches for such plants.
Wednesday's eradication was a joint effort of North Carolina Counter Drug
Task Force, which is a division of the National Guard, the SBI, and the
local Drug Enforcement Division.

Strickland said marijuana plants can reach 16 feet high. It takes between
60 and 90 days for a plant to reach full growth.

Strickland said that the plants that were found had been tended to "just as
a garden would be cared for."

Officers worked vigorously through the hot sun and intermittent rain for
about eight hours. They uprooted the plants and loaded them onto two
pick-up trucks.

Strickland said the operation will continue in the next few days.