Marijuana plants found near DEA offices in Dallas

**TXCharlie** · 07-13-07, 04:33 AM

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....6b11010d.html
The plants were spotted from a helicopter.

10:43 PM CDT on Thursday, July 12, 2007
By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News

The Drug Enforcement Administration looks far and wide for dope.

But Dallas agents found it in their back yard.

A helicopter pilot conducting surveillance in an unrelated drug case a few days ago noticed oddly colored plants among the trees and brush in a heavily wooded area next to the Trinity River.

Video: Rebecca Lopez reports

The site, off Spur 482, was a few hundred yards behind the regional DEA and FBI headquarters on Stemmons Freeway.

The pilot circled and photographed the area, and authorities recognized the plants as marijuana.

On Thursday, floodwaters had subsided enough for DEA agents to float over to the site in boats.

A tent and sleeping bag were found near a generator and irrigation pipes, which fed about 325 plants, some 12 feet tall. They were arranged in sizable plots carved out of the woods.

"It wasn't a handful of seeds thrown in there haphazardly," said Special Agent Michelle Deaver, DEA spokeswoman in Dallas. "It was a groomed marijuana field."

Agents theorize that someone monitored the stash – worth about $286,000 – round-the-clock until floodwaters got too high and forced them away. So far, it's unclear who was responsible.

"There were no booby traps, so that's good. Or snakes," Agent Deaver said. "I'm sure the agents were eaten up with mosquitoes, though."

The plants weren't visible from the DEA building, which is separated from the wooded area by a small, river-fed lake.

Also:
1,100 marijuana plants seized in Richardson