AERIAL SLEUTHING FINDS POT WORTH $27 MILLION

Sampson County lawmen hit the marijuana jackpot Thursday after seizing
11,000 plants with an estimated street value of $27 million.

"This was a well-established marijuana-growing operation," Sheriff Jimmy
Thornton said in a news release issued late Thursday.

The plants were discovered during an aerial search involving the Sheriff's
Office and the State Bureau of Investigation, the release said.

"Basically, the only way it could be found was from the air," Thornton
said in the release. "There's no way you can just happen to wander upon
it."

Four marijuana fields were spotted off Wright's Bridge Road north of
Garland, the release said.

The sites were accessible only after the N.C. Forestry Service used a fire
plow to clear paths, the release said.

"Once investigators gained access to the growth sites, they discovered an
elaborate irrigation system that had been fashioned to drain water from a
nearby pond," the release said.

"The pipes from the irrigation system were painted green to help
camouflage them from observation," the release said.

Huts and tents were discovered at the sites and paths had been cleared
between the fields to provide a quick escape route, the release said.

The plants ranged in height from 3 to 5 feet, the release said.

No arrests have been made.