CHATHAM COUNTY MARIJUANA BUST ONE OF SBI'S LARGEST

SILER CITY -- State Bureau of Investigation agents seized a field of
marijuana Friday that authorities say is the largest discovered in North
Carolina this year.

SBI officials estimate that more than 23,000 plants were growing in the
area. The field was discovered Thursday by an agent who was conducting a
routine air search.

The plants ranged in size from seedlings to nine feet, said Chief Deputy
Richard Keck of the Chatham County Sheriff's Department. Their street value
would be nearly $115 million if each of the plants reached maturity.

SBI agents, National Guard troops, the state Highway Patrol and the
sheriff's department participated in the bust in rural Chatham County. The
U.S. Forest Service assisted by bulldozing an access road to the site a few
miles east of Siler City.

Authorities worked Friday to remove and destroy the plants.

Through June of this year, North Carolina law enforcement agencies reported
that nearly 48,000 marijuana plants had been seized. Nearly 1,100 have been
reported in the past week.