Texas sheriffs burn $4 million worth of budding marijuana

The Associated Press

August 24, 2011

MONTGOMERY — About 10,000 marijuana plants being carefully tended at a national forest in Texas have been destroyed.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that the plants were discovered by a hunter seeking wild hogs. Lt. Philip Cash told The Associated Press that the street value of the marijuana is about $4 million.

Deputies were notified Sunday of the patch, about 45 miles northwest of Houston, and began surveillance. Cash says a man carrying a bag of ice showed up Monday, but fled when he noticed the law officers. No one has been arrested.

Cash says the site had chemicals, ice chests with food and drinking water, plus hoses to draw water from a pond and tend the plants.

Officers burned the marijuana Tuesday.