Aviation Training Mission Locates Marijuana Fields

AVIATION TRAINING MISSION LOCATES MARIJUANA FIELDS

(ATLANTA)—With summer fast approaching, the Governor’s Task Force on Drug Suppression has begun training for the 2005 marijuana growing season.  One such training mission on Wednesday resulted in the location and confiscation of 709 marijuana plants in Brantley and Charlton County.

      The Governor’s Task Force is composed of members from the Georgia State Patrol, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia National Guard, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.  Each year the task force conducts flights across Georgia during the summer months searching for fields of marijuana.  Then, working with local law enforcement agencies, the marijuana is seized and referred to a local law enforcement agency for follow-up investigation.

      Wednesday’s discovery came as pilots with the Governor’s Task Force were training new observers for their upcoming surveillance flights when the marijuana plants were found on 31 plots in Brantley County. The plots extended into Charlton County.  The street value of the marijuana is estimated at more than $1.2 million.

      The case has been sent to the GBI Region 14 office in Kingsland for further investigation.

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