Serpo
16th July 2011, 04:35 PM
Mexican soldiers have found a 300-acre marijuana plantation, the largest ever discovered in the country.
The plantation was hidden in the Baja California desert 150 miles south of Tijuana, across the US border from San Diego.
It was twice as large as the previous record discovery in Mexico, and was hidden under black screen cloth which made it difficult to detect from the air. Soldiers stumbled across the plantation while on foot patrol.
Army General Alfonso Duarte said: "It is the largest marijuana plantation in Mexican history. We estimate that in this area approximately 60 people were working. When they saw the military personnel, they fled." He said drug traffickers could have harvested about 120 tons of marijuana from the site, which would have been worth about $160 million (£99 million.)
It will now be burned.
It was not known which drug cartel was operating the plantation, the Mexican army said.
Video footage from the site, in an area best known for growing tomatoes, showed a sophisticated system of piped-in irrigation to support the plants.
Last October, Mexican authorities made their largest-ever seizure of marijuana packaged for sale when they found 148 tons of the drug in Tijuana.
The following month they found two long, sophisticated tunnels under the border between Mexico and San Diego.
The tunnels ran for 2,000ft and were equipped with lighting, ventilation and a rail system for drugs to be carried on a small cart.
photos...........................
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/8641523/Mexican-soldiers-find-biggest-ever-marijuana-plantation.html
The plantation was hidden in the Baja California desert 150 miles south of Tijuana, across the US border from San Diego.
It was twice as large as the previous record discovery in Mexico, and was hidden under black screen cloth which made it difficult to detect from the air. Soldiers stumbled across the plantation while on foot patrol.
Army General Alfonso Duarte said: "It is the largest marijuana plantation in Mexican history. We estimate that in this area approximately 60 people were working. When they saw the military personnel, they fled." He said drug traffickers could have harvested about 120 tons of marijuana from the site, which would have been worth about $160 million (£99 million.)
It will now be burned.
It was not known which drug cartel was operating the plantation, the Mexican army said.
Video footage from the site, in an area best known for growing tomatoes, showed a sophisticated system of piped-in irrigation to support the plants.
Last October, Mexican authorities made their largest-ever seizure of marijuana packaged for sale when they found 148 tons of the drug in Tijuana.
The following month they found two long, sophisticated tunnels under the border between Mexico and San Diego.
The tunnels ran for 2,000ft and were equipped with lighting, ventilation and a rail system for drugs to be carried on a small cart.
photos...........................
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/8641523/Mexican-soldiers-find-biggest-ever-marijuana-plantation.html