Marijuana seizures rise in S.C. corridor
The latest illegal crop found: 11,000 pot plants worth $22 million near Chester County's airport.
By Christopher D. Kirkpatrick
ckirkpatrick@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2009


Chester County authorities say they scouted a large marijuana field for several days before conducting a raid on the property Monday. A spokesman for the sheriff's office in Chester said Tuesday morning that "the investigation is ongoing," but two suspects were taken into custody. The sheriff's office and state officials say about 11,000 pot plants, some 5 feet tall, were discovered in more than a half-dozen fields, in a wooded area off Darby Road. That is a short distance from the Chester County Airport, in the northern part of the county. SLED PHOTO

CHESTER, S.C. -- Four rural S.C. counties that hug I-77 south of Charlotte have become fields of choice for marijuana growers, law enforcement officials say.

Operations that supply Charlotte and cities along the interstate have been increasing in size in recent years in Chester, York, Lancaster and Fairfield counties, state and local officials say.

The latest bust came Monday when state and Chester County authorities arrested three men and accused them of cultivating more than 11,000 marijuana plants in a half-dozen hidden fields on someone else's property near Chester County's airport.

The seized crop, with some plants 5 feet high, was estimated to be worth $22 million, or $2,000 per plant. By Tuesday, the plants were already burned and buried.

It was the third bust in the county in a year, and one of seven large-scale seizures of marijuana plants since 2007, said Chester County Deputy Sheriff Robert Cauthen.

The counties are popular growth sites because they're less populated, close to the interstate and within 50 miles of Charlotte, which is filled with potential customers, say officials with the S.C. Law Enforcement Division.

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