DEA Special Response Team, with the San Augustine County Sheriff's Department busted a rather large grow deep in the National Forest. The plants were found on Forest Service Road 303 in Southern San Augustine County late on Wednesday July 29th.

This site had been under investigation for a long time. They were attempting to arrest two suspects that had been living at the grow site. The two Hispanic male subjects ran, and got away. With that much forest to hide in, even the dogs that were brought in from TDC were not able to find them once they got to Johnson's Creek after an 8 hour search.

One of the suspects was spotted around 2 miles north of Broaddus High School the next morning. They really threw everything they had at this guy. Thermal cameras, aircraft, dogs, and again he evaded capture. They eventually had to give up completely.

Thursday they picked out the crop, containing 7,922 "rootballs" with an average of 3 plants per. So technically around 23,000 plants. The area was so remote they had to airlift the plants out. They were taken to a secure site nearby and buried.

Agencies that were involved in the operation included US Forest Service, DEA Eradication team, DPS Highway Patrol, TPWD Game Wardens, San Augustine Police Department and the San Augustine County Sheriff's Office.

I know these types of raids on a plant seem like 'what's the big deal' but this is organized crime. Illegal drug dealers don't let you default on loans, and this kind of activity leads to other things. They could have sprayed certain pesticides on the plants to keep them healthy, and that could make them unsafe to consume. It's just a crime plain and simple.

 

 

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