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Guys with their spoils |
South Texas in the summertime is a great place to grow marijuana. It is still illegal in Texas, and therefore a very profitable crop. The most recent find was about 13,000 plants in an wooden area far from roads and people, on a property for sale.
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Pump |
The police found it by actively looking for it, flying over the Austin county. The site was designed with care and well hidden. The plants needed filtered light to grow, so could be planted under trees as long as the branches were thinned to let is more light. The plane had to fly directly overhead to see the crop.
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Living quarters |
The plants were well tended and one or more persons lived there full time in a temporary shelter. When the police came they were either away shopping for food, or heard the police approaching. The food in the camp was fresh. One person left a photo id behind, so the police know who they are looking for.
A small gasoline pump was placed in a partially cover hole under water near Mill Creek on the property. This pumped water uphill to a large holding pond, and the water was siphoned out to the drip feed pipes. They mixed fertilizer in the pond. The pump was only run when needed at night when needed, it was the only noise that might give their location away. Well designed.
The police had to pull up all the plants by the roots, so they did not regrow, and cart them away to be destroyed. A huge endeavor. The haul was valued at $1.5m. In the states of Washington and Colorado marijuana is legal. Given time, Texas will be too, and this will no longer be news.