BIRCHWOOD BUST SETS POT RECORD COPS HARVEST $2.2 MILLION GARDEN

Drug enforcement authorities confiscated almost 1,100 marijuana plants
from a Birchwood home Thursday night, the largest Anchorage pot bust
in memory, police said.

Acting on a Crime Stoppers tip of a few weeks ago, officers from city,
state and federal law enforcement agencies obtained a warrant to
search the home, police said.

The street value of the 1,097 plants is estimated at $2.2 million,
said police Lt. Audie Holloway, commander of the city's Drug
Enforcement Unit.

Police are seeking three people, including the homeowner, Holloway
said. A fourth person, whom Holloway described as a caretaker, was at
the residence at the time of the search but was not arrested. Holloway
declined to identify the suspects.

No charges have been filed yet in the case.

Investigators will dry and then weigh the plants before recommending
charges to the district attorney's office, Holloway said. The process
may take a week or two, he added.

"We've never dried 1,000 plants before," he said.

The property on Birchwood Loop Road consists of several buildings and
other structures, Holloway said.

The ground floor of a two-story house served as a starter room for
marijuana seedlings, he said. Attached to the house is a 40-by-40-foot
metal shed where officers found hundreds of mature plants. They found
more plants in two 40-foot-long containers adjacent to the shed.

Police also confiscated 77 lamps and other sophisticated growing
equipment, and several weapons, they said. No large amounts of cash
were found.

Busts of pot growers, particularly in the Matanuska-Susitna valleys,
are on the rise, Holloway said.

"Alaskan indoor-grown marijuana has the highest THC content of any
grown," said Holloway. THC - or tetrahyrocannibinol - is the plant's
most active ingredient.

Investigators believe most of what's grown in Southcentral Alaska is
shipped Outside.

"There's a good market for marijuana. But we can't track it to the
sellers," Holloway said. "We assume it's being shipped."

Daily News reporter Peter Porco can be reached at pporco@adn.com.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry