Hawkins Teague

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Kentucky State Police seized a total of 241 marijuana plants in Cerulean on Aug. 13.

Lt. Brent White said that this was the first time this year that any plants had been found in Trigg County. He said the plants were contained in five different plots they found through aerial surveillance. As of Monday, no arrests had been made in the case, said a KSP spokeswoman.

White said that many times, there is no way of identifying who was responsible for growing marijuana since the landowners are often unaware of them. He cautioned landowners to report any suspicious activity, such as seeing vehicles parked on a road where they would not normally be. Landowners should also be alert if they find suspicious tire tracks or hear a car door slam nearby late at night.

White said that KSP Post 1 officers had been flying helicopters and cutting down plants since July to catch growers in their peak season. He said there had multiple arrests in the Post 1 area recently and that close to 1,000 plants had been found in the area since the beginning of the year.

Wright said that KSP estimates each mature marijuana plant to have a street value of about $2,000, which would make the amount seized last Wednesday roughly $482,000.