HARNETT POT WAS WORTH $84 MILLION

MAMERS - State and local law enforcement brought in an early harvest
this week, yanking 35,000 marijuana plants out of the ground in what
may have been the biggest single haul in Harnett County history. Lt.
Todd Woodard, who oversees the aviation unit of the N.C. Highway
Patrol, said his officers were making a regular scouting flight
looking for marijuana by helicopter when they spotted the crop
Tuesday. The patrol, along with the N.C. National Guard and State
Bureau of Investigation, fly the state throughout the growing season,
Woodard said, coordinating with teams on the ground.

Last year, because of the drought, the air patrols didn't find as
many plots as they have in the past, Woodard said. But the Harnett
County operation was shaping up to be a bumper crop.

Maj. Eddie Holder of the Harnett County Sheriff's Office said it
appeared that some of the plants had been started right after the
last frost; the tallest had grown to about 4 feet, and the smallest
were about 18 inches. At maturity -- about 8 feet, Holder said -- a
single plant can be harvested, dried and sold on the street for about $2,400.

That would make the plants found Tuesday worth about $84 million. "I
understand they have chemicals that can interact with the growth of
the plant like they do with chickens, that make them grow faster and
mature faster," Holder said.

Holder said the plants were scattered over eight plots in an area off
U.S. 421 west of Lillington, a region where officers have found
marijuana crops before. The plants were found in an overgrown timber
cut, a remote area covered with pine trees and thorny underbrush, and
bordered by dead-end roads and a branch of a creek that feeds into
the Cape Fear River. Holder said that it probably took several people
to tend the plants and that they likely worked on the crop every day.
Officers found a shelter where it appeared someone may have stayed
overnight at times, and it looked as if someone had been hauling
water from the creek to keep the plants moist. "Matter of fact,"
Holder said, "the ground was still wet in some places. That's how
close we were."

No arrests were made, Holder said, but officers are investigating.
After photographing the operation and saving a handful of plants for
evidence, officers pulled the rest out of the ground. Holder said
that even with off-duty deputies called in to help, it took six
hours. After that, he said, the plants were "taken to the local
landfill and interacted with some kerosene and a match."

One other thing of interest officers found, Holder said, was a
container of Deer Off, designed to keep deer, rabbits and squirrels
away from plants.