NCCO POLICE SPOT POT PLANTS FROM AIR

An off-duty policeman on an Army National Guard training flight led
New Castle County police to one of their biggest marijuana seizures in
recent years after spotting the plants growing near the Chesapeake &
Delaware Canal.

County police officer Elwood Gilger was flying a helicopter near the
canal Friday when crew members spotted strange plants growing among
wetland weeds, New Castle County police spokesman Trinidad Navarro
said.

Gilger and the crew flew in closer and Gilger realized the plants were
marijuana, Navarro said.

The crew mapped the coordinates and contacted New Castle County
police.

The area was on the north side of the canal between Del. 1 and Summit
Bridge, police spokesman Sgt. William J. Harden II said.

Because the plants were so hard to get to, officers were dropped near
the area by helicopter and then walked toward them.

There were 70 marijuana plants about 6 feet tall in an area the size
of a football field.

Most of the plants were in one end of the field and had obviously been
well tended, Harden said.

"This wasn't an accidental field of pot," he said.

Police seized the plants, which would have yielded about 140 pounds of
pot worth about $140,000.

That's one of the largest seizures in recent years by the county,
Harden said.

Police had not determined Saturday who owned the land. They had made
no arrests.