Just months after signing a revolutionary medical marijuana bill into law, NJ authorities have seized more than $10 million worth of illegal marijuana and plants, the most in the state’s history. After sniffing a skunky odor coming from a suburban chimney, cops collected more than 115 pounds of harvested marijuana in addition to 3,370 live plants. So far, three have been arrested in connection with the massive operation. “We have not seen anything to match the volume of production of this criminal enterprise,” said Attorney General Paula T. Dow.
The Cliffview Pilot reports that about a month ago one officer smelled weed in the suburbs of Monroe and was then “faced with overpowering evidence that [a grower] was burning unusable parts of pot plants in the home’s fireplace." A search revealed surveillance cameras set up around the house and four "cultivation areas" in the basement and master bedroom. CBS says that in the next few days police searched more homes, picking up hundreds of plants and pounds of product (as well as growth notebooks, fertilization notes, financial records and cash).
To stay off the radar and avoid the risk of property seizure, the growers rented six nice houses in upper class neighborhoods, where they reworked the electrical system to set up hundreds of grow lamps. They also cut foot-wide ventilation holes through the floor, but the landlords never caught on: to “avoid noisy intrusions” the pot farmers were advised to pick property owners who lived out of state, Dow says.
