Deputies Take Down Big Marijuana Farm in Wood County
it wasn't hard to find. It even called attention to itself. With the drought turning everything else brown, deputies in Wood County had no trouble finding several acres of lush and green marijuana plants north of Hawkins.
Wood County Sheriff Bill Wansley and a crew of five deputies spent hours digging up more than 3,000 marijuana plants Wednesday, after discovering three illegal fields at a deer lease north of Hawkins on County Road 3824.
Wansley says it was a sophisticated and professional operation, with elaborate irrigation systems that watered each plant from the property’s water well. The plants range in height from one foot to 12 feet, and all will be burned at a facility in Carthage.
The land owner lives in Jacksonville and he says he hadn't been to the property for some time, and he didn't know the illegal stuff was there.
The Sheriff thinks the plants could be connected to a Mexican drug cartel or gang. “This is going on all over the state of Texas, not just here,” Wansley said.
This sort of thing is not new in east Texas. Marijuana growers have hidden their illegal farms in the national forests and privately owned timber lands for years. It's so common that some people think marijuana is one of the state's biggest cash crops.
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