Pot grow house raids net 135 arrests, $41M of plants seized
MIAMI (AP) -- Coordinated raids on suspected marijuana grow houses across Florida netted at least 135 arrests and seizure of high-potency pot plants worth an estimated $41 million on the street, law enforcement officials said Thursday.
The raids took place Wednesday in 48 counties, from the Florida Keys to the Panhandle, and identified about 150 homes with indoor growing operations. U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of Miami estimated the potential street value of the more than 9,000 confiscated plants.
"This could be anyplace. This could be in your neighborhood," Acosta said.
Marijuana grow houses are mushrooming across the state and spreading elsewhere in the Southeast because organized crime groups see tremendous profit potential, said Timothy Wagner, director of the federal South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force that coordinated the raids.
Some of these groups, including Miami-based Cuban-American organizations, control upward of 200 grow houses and have a corrupt support network that includes real estate agents, garden suppliers, property appraisers, electricians and mortgage brokers, Wagner said.
He said some organizations recruit people in Cuba specifically to come to the U.S. to act as caretakers.
"This problem is growing exponentially," Wagner said.
The marijuana produced indoors is up to 10 times as potent as the weed available in the 1970s and 1980s, said Robert Parker, director of the Miami-Dade County Police Department. It can cost more than $4,000 a pound and hard-to-detect indoor operations can produce four harvests a year.
The Miami raids included seizure of a bulletproof vest and eight weapons, evidence of what Parker said is a wave of violence surrounding the grow houses including home invasions, kidnappings and even murder.
"If they can kill a person and get away with the drugs and the money, they will do it," Parker said.
The potential for harm to innocent people, especially children, is heightened because grow houses have been found in neighborhoods at all economic levels -- sometimes with kids and even babies living alongside the pot plants with their chemicals, hazardous electricity and other dangers.
"It's a grave concern to our community," Parker said.
A county-by-county breakdown from the raids wasn't immediately available for the entire state. But for the three populous South Florida counties, Miami-Dade had 50 grow houses, 49 arrests and more than 2,200 plants; Broward had nine houses, 10 arrests and more than 300 plants; and Palm Beach had 18 houses, 15 arrests and almost 1,000 plants.
Most of those arrested will face state drug charges, including marijuana trafficking that carries a mandatory prison sentence of at least three years.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
