PUBLIC SAFETY

Airborne cops find $7.5M in Indiana pot crops

Madeline Buckley
madeline.buckley@indystar.com
Law enforcement surveyed Southern Indiana land by air to find plots of marijuana.

Authorities searched large swaths of remote Southern Indiana land from the air to find illegal grow enterprises in an operation that seized thousands of marijuana plants that police deemed worth $7.5 million on the street.

Indiana State Police announced Wednesday the results of “Operation Smoke Out,” an effort that combined resources from federal, state and local authorities as well as funds from a federal grant.

Police learned through “criminal intelligence” about illegal marijuana plots thriving on far-flung pieces of public land, such as in the Hoosier National Forest, a press release from the Indiana State Police said.

Officers surveyed large plots of land in Southern Indiana in aircraft and on land, scouring the area for marijuana from Aug. 17 through Aug. 28.

The search spanned a large area: North to South from Monroe, Ripley and Jennings counties to the Ohio River, and East to West from the Indiana and Ohio state line to Pike, Daviess and Greene counties, police said.

Police officers seized almost 5,000 marijuana plants in an operation that targets growers on public land.

A task force — including officers from the Indiana State Police, the Indiana National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Forest Service, Civil Air Patrol, Indiana Department of Natural Resources and local agencies — arrested 16 people and seized cash, weapons, marijuana and a methamphetamine lab.

Among items seized in the investigation are:

• 146 marijuana plots with almost 5,000 plants.

• 4 pounds of processed marijuana.

• $3,000 in cash.

• Six weapons.

Call Star reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter:@Mabuckley88.