On September 19, 2012, shortly after 7:00 a.m., Kings County Sheriff's Office Deputies along with Federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Agents served two federal search warrants as part of Operation Mercury.
The first search warrant was conducted in the 22100 block of Everett Ave. in Kings County, south of Riverdale. Less than 50 mature marijuana plants were located on this property. All the plants were seized and destroyed pursuant to federal statute, however, no arrests were made.
The second federal search warrant was served in the 300 block of Fifth Ave., in rural Kings County just south of Kingsburg. Just under 1000 plants were located on this property, that when processed and dried could have had a potential street value of over $5 million dollars. The marijuana was planted in an inter-mingled fashion within a corn field.
Nobody was located on the property although a shabby makeshift tent was discovered and the field tender(s) were probably coming onto the property under the cover of darkness.
All the plants at this location were destroyed and no arrests were made. KCSO Deputies and Federal authorities will be conducting follow-up to attempt to ascertain who owns the property and if they had knowledge of the illegal grow.
Operation Mercury is a partnership between Central Valley Sheriff's Offices, local narcotics task forces, and the United States Drug Enforcement Agency; with a focused effort of eradicating federally illegal marijuana grows.
TXT 24
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