The marijuana bust netted 596 plants after officia

[Skunkxxx]

York County task force makes large pot bust

The marijuana bust netted 596 plants after officials staged a three-day stakeout.

 

By Shannon Greene Lake Wylie Pilot

 

(Published July 15‚ 2004)

 

After a three-day stakeout, police made the largest marijuana drug bust of the season Monday on S.C. 49 near Kingsburry Road.

 

The York County Multi jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit cut and seized 596 plants. Police charged Francisco Palomo Ruiz, 24, of Clover with trafficking marijuana. A second suspect was still at large at press time.

 

On Friday, the South Carolina National Guard spotted the plants from the air and called in the county's drug enforcement unit to execute a plan, said Lt. Kelly Lovelace, commander of the drug unit for York County Sheriff's Office.

 

"We put the area on 24-hour surveillance, trying to catch someone coming to water or harvest the plants," said Lovelace of the crop that included both full-stock and infant plants.

 

Just after 5 a.m. Monday, Ruiz and a second suspect showed up. Police captured Ruiz quickly, but searched for five hours with the K-9 tracking team and the help of SLED and a Charlotte Mecklenburg Police helicopter for a second suspect before calling off the search.

 

Police will interrogate Ruiz and continue to search for the other suspect, Lovelace said.

 

Monday's drug bust was the largest of the season, said Lovelace, explaining the marijuana season runs from late spring until the first frost.

 

But it's also the latest in a string of crops that seem to be popping up across the Clover/Lake Wylie area, said Officer R.T. McSwain of the York County Sheriff's Office.

 

"For the past two or three years, this has been a problem out here," said the Lake Wylie officer. "People have been growing marijuana in the wooded areas along highways 49 and 557. They think it's hidden -- that you can't see it."

 

But officers in a helicopter can.

 

"Typically, we'd just cut it down and dispose of the crop," McSwain said. "But this time, because of the size of the crop, we decided to stakeout the area over the weekend. We wanted to make sure they don't get away with this."

 

In February, narcotics agents seized 67 marijuana plants from a Clover man.

[Nath]

Wow, three day stake out... didnt they abandon 'stake outs' in the 80's or something? What about cameras and other equipment.. damnit, they are just wasting more tax payers money.

[free choice]

add up the cost .....

 

3 day stake out ..+ choppers & coppers ... = MORONS ... he he