More Than 17,000 Marijuana Plants Seized In Navarro County
CORSICANA, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - The biggest marijuana seizure Navarro County authorities can remember happened Tuesday.
A tip sent the Navarro County Sheriff's Department to a remote area where investigators found approximately 17,500 marijuana plants.
The marijuana field was growing in such a remote location, the sheriff's office still hasn't determined who owns the property.
But Sheriff Elmer Turner said he doesn't believe the owner was aware of a large marijuana farm that may have been secretly operating for four years.
Sheriff Turner said he figured that out by using old Google Maps to look at aerial photos of the site off County Road 30 between Angus and Corsicana.
A tip led authorities to this location where they flew a drone over the site confirmed the marijuana field.
The seizure began at 5:30 Tuesday morning.
The marijuana plants were found growing about a half mile off the road.
They were gathered up and loaded onto a truck and be stored as evidence if anyone is prosecuted.
Sheriff Turner said there's evidence that people were at times living on the property.
"We found numerous campsites there at the scene we found food products we found camping gear we found everything that would be necessary to be able to exist here and tend those plants as the growing operation was being conducted," said Sheriff Turner.
Because of the undeveloped terrain around the field and without knowing when those responsible would be coming and going, the sheriff decided against staking out property which could have resulted in arrests.
He says uprooting thousands of dollars worth of plants will at least dismantle the operation which may have been managed from across the border.
There's a creek that runs through the field so the drug growers even created an irrigation system to water the plants.