Officials raid large pot farm

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

A tip from hunters who stumbled across a marijuana-growing operation in rural Ohio led to the seizure of thousands of plants and the arrest of 11 people, authorities said Tuesday.

The suspects, identified as Mexican nationals, were arrested Monday in Muskingum County in eastern Ohio as more than two dozen law-enforcement officers descended on a riverside camp and used boats to remove the plants from the isolated area.

Attorney General Richard Cordray said the seizures and arrests were further evidence of what he called “cartel-sponsored megamarijuana farms taking root in Ohio.”

“It’s difficult for someone to grow a large volume of plants and be successful economically with that unless they’re tied somehow to a distribution network, something larger,” Cordray said.

He also said it was rare for police to make arrests when such operations begin.

The seizures were the latest in a series of busts of large marijuana operations in Ohio. Authorities have confiscated about 60,000 plants to date, compared with 48,000 in all of last year.

Last month, state and local officials found about 22,000 marijuana plants in Latham, a small village in southern Ohio. The operation was so extensive that the individuals tending the marijuana had planted their own garden where they grew cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, said Scott Duff, a state investigator who leads Ohio’s marijuana eradication efforts.

The latest investigation began in June when two hunters found a marijuana operation in Logan County in west-central Ohio, said Logan County Sheriff Andrew Smith. That led to the Muskingum County camp, which authorities believe was operated by the same group of men.

Investigators said they were trying to determine the legal status of 10 men taken into custody. The 11th man, Hugo Ayala, arrested in Columbus, is a legal resident and the alleged ringleader.

The men were in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and had an initial court appearance Tuesday in federal court in Dayton.

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