OVER $18 MILLION IN MARIJUANA PLANTS SEIZED IN DUPLIN CO

ALBERTSON - After discovering a large outdoor marijuana growing
operation in northern Duplin County last week, deputies with the
sheriff's offices in Duplin and Wayne counties staked out the location
around the clock in an attempt to apprehend suspects returning to tend
to the plants. Although no arrests have been made, authorities seized
11,500 marijuana plants, which would reportedly have a street value of
more than $18 million fully grown.

According to Duplin County Sheriff Blake Wallace, a large number of
the plants were destroyed, but others were kept with the purpose of
displaying a sample of the growing operation to the media at an
announcement of the bust Thursday.

Wallace said that authorities received information last week of the
growing operation, which was found in the Albertson area, near the
Wayne County line. The operation consisted of four large plots of the
marijuana plants.

Each of the plants were seeded in potting soil and housed in small
plastic cups, with each of the cups having a small hole in the bottom
to let ground water moisten the plants, according to Wallace. All four
plots were covered with a camouflage mesh netting, the sheriff said.

Once the marijuana plants were found, in a heavily-wooded area, seven
deputies with the Duplin County Sheriff's Office and five with the
Wayne County Sheriff's Office worked surveillance in the area for
days. State Bureau of Investigation agents also assisted in the
investigation.

"We were out there for almost a week," said Wallace. "During that time
no one returned to the plot."

Wallace said that after more than 330 manhours spent at the scene of
the growing operation, the surveillance was withdrawn and the plants
seized.

Wayne County Sheriff Carey Winders said that they had to take into
account their resources, and weigh the many hours being spent staking
out the growing operation with the regular duties that still needed to
be done.

"A lot of times, when you get a large amount of marijuana, people ask,
'Why didn't you catch anybody?'" Winders noted. "It'd be nice to wait
there several weeks for somebody to come back there."

At the same time, Winders added, "It could be mighty
time-consuming."

Added Wallace, "It becomes a catch-22," asking deputies to fulfill
other responsibilities while still working to provide surveillance at
all hours.

Both sheriffs remarked that the seizure of the thousands of plants in
itself was a good bust.

"We're glad to get this off the street," said Wallace.

The sheriff said that the Drug Enforcement Administration estimates
that each marijuana plant at full maturity would have a street value
of $1,600. With 11,500 plants seized, the total street value would
have been $18.4 million.

"When we found these, they hadn't even begun to sprout," noted
Wallace, who said that such plants can grow up to 12 feet high in a
single growing season.

There were about 1,200 of the plastic cups containing the marijuana
plants on each of the four plots, with many of the cups containing
multiple seedlings. Winders said that the plants would likely have
been taken from the original growing location and transplanted in
other areas.

"No doubt it would have ended up in Wayne County and other counties,"
said Winders, who noted that the growing operation was in close
proximity to not only Wayne County, but also Lenoir.

Both Wallace and Winders commented that each of their offices were
offering a monetary reward leading to the arrest and conviction of
those responsible for the marijuana growing operation.