By Joelyn Hansen
Idaho Falls Post-Register
BINGHAM COUNTY, Idaho — The biggest outdoor marijuana growing operation in state history, according to Bingham County Sheriff Dave Johnson, has been shut down.
“I’ve never seen (an operation) this big, and I’ve been in law enforcement over 40 years,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, the entire seizure, consisting of 6,750 mature plants, has an estimated street value of $20.5 million.
The plants were found June 30 after a hiker stumbled across the operation, located about 13 miles east of U.S. Highway 91 on 600 North and a mile north of a church girls camp, Johnson said.
By July 1, the investigation began.
“This isn’t just a fly-by-night operation,” Johnson said of the growers. “They knew what they were doing.”
Deputies, with the assistance from the special response team and the Bear River Drug Task Force, monitored the operation for a month and a half, tracking the movement of the suspects, Johnson said.
At one time, officers also camped near the site for three days trying to catch the suspects, but no one ever appeared.
Surveillance cameras set up by police at the site did capture images of three different people. They were found to be carrying weapons, a 9 mm handgun and an AR-15 semiautomatic, Johnson said.
This week, surrounded by 30 armed officers, the plants were confiscated and all evidence, including camp gear and PVC pipe used for irrigation, was collected and taken out of the area.
“That meant that our officers went into harm’s way to get that evidence out of there,” Johnson said.
No arrests have yet been made, Johnson said. But his department is asking for public help in identifying the suspects.
Johnson said the costs of supplies and overtime for his officers will squeeze his department, but said the result justified the time, money and effort needed to produce it.
“We don’t want this stuff on our streets,” he said. ""The payoff for law enforcement is when we torch this stuff.”
Copyright 2009 Idaho Falls Post-Register