Deputies with the Duplin County Sheriff's Office made what they believe is the area's biggest marijuana bust in recent history when they discovered a 10- to 15-acre pot farm off Old Camp Road, about nine miles west of Wallace, early Sunday morning.

The marijuana recovered so far, which weighed in at 4,160 pounds, has a street value of about $9.9 million, said Duplin County Sheriff Blake Wallace. And that number was likely to grow as deputies continue their recovery work today, he added.

"I don't recall a bust this big in southeastern North Carolina in my time," said Sheriff Wallace, who worked for the State Bureau of Investigation for 11 years before he became the Duplin sheriff in 2002. "We think we've gotten most of it, but we'll fly the area with a helicopter tomorrow," Sheriff Wallace said.

The bust was the result of an ongoing investigation and a tip from a concerned citizen who called the Sheriff's Office late Saturday evening. Deputies went to the location about 2 a.m. Sunday and said they found themselves in fields of pot plants, some as tall as 13 feet. Upon penetrating the fields, deputies found three huts where someone had lived, probably those tending the pot fields, Sheriff Wallace said. "We found sleeping bags, cook tops, cell phone chargers and chemicals to keep insects and deer away from the plants," he said. They did not, however, find booby traps or evidence that the keepers of the pot farm would have had dogs to protect their harvest, Sheriff Wallace said.

It will be a few days before the more than two-ton pot pile goes up in smoke, Sheriff Wallace said.

"We won't burn it until we have made sure we got all of it and conferred with the DA's office to make sure they have all they need to make a successful prosecution if and when we make an arrest," he said. Duplin deputies had not made any arrests late Sunday night, but had some suspects, Sheriff Wallace said. Ownership of the land was not known at press time.

"We are hoping to get higher up in the organization than just those who tended these plants," he said.

While the bust had yielded no arrests yet, there was still reason to celebrate, Sheriff Wallace said.

"Anytime you can get this amount of dope off the street it's a big day for us," Sheriff Wallace said.

The Wallace Police Department, along with the Sampson County and Wayne County sheriff's offices, assisted Duplin in the bust.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1506/a02.html
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Pubdate: Mon, 19 Sep 2005
Source: Star-News (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Wilmington Morning Star
Contact: letters@wilmingtonstar.com
Website: http://www.wilmingtonstar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/500
Author: Majsan Bostrom, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)