MOUNT VERNON — A joint law enforcement effort Monday led to the seizure of thousands of dollars worth of marijuana plants.
According to Knox County Sheriff David Barber, detectives and the KCSO Tactical Response Unit joined forces with agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for a marijuana eradication operation in the county.
Under the direction of Capt. David Shaffer, spotters in a helicopter guided officers on the ground to growing plants at various locations which were then seized.
Barber said among those seized was a huge marijuana plant about the size of a small maple tree from a location in the west end of Mount Vernon.
“The plant, measuring nearly 7 feet tall, is the largest single marijuana plant seized in the county,” said Barber. “Its stalk was several inches in diameter more like a tree and the plant has a street value of several thousand dollars.”
BCI agents involved in Monday’s operation said, “they had never seen a plant this size.”
The operation yielded approximately 40 plants with an additional 150 plants being seized less than two weeks ago with assistance from an Ohio State Highway Patrol aviation unit.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office in an active member of the 10-county METRICH Enforcement Unit.
Barber anyone with information about drug activity in Knox County to contact the Detective Division at 393-6800 or the Toll Free Tip Line at 1-888-363-TIPS (1-888-8477).
