DPS Digs Dope in East Texas

September is already looking like a good month for drug busters with the Texas Dept. of Public Safety who since Thursday have seized approximately 15,000 marijuana plants in one bust and another 3,212 pounds of pot during a traffic stop.

Out in Navarro Co., DPS officers on Sept. 3 discovered an outdoor grow operation hidden under a canopy of trees just off I-45 in Rice. The plants were irrigated by "miles of pipes" running from stock tanks on the property and, by the looks of things, were growing quite nicely. Working with the Ellis Co. Sheriff's Office, DPS helped find another "sophisticated and well established" plot near the county airport. Together, the two plots contained roughly 15,000 plants, investigators estimate.

Meanwhile, on Friday morning, Sept. 4, troopers working in Jim Hogg Co. seized more than 3,000 pounds of dope concealed inside a commercial truck that was painted to look like it belonged to an "oil field service company," reports DPS. The agency says the street value of the dope, found during a traffic stop on Hwy. 59 near Hebbronville, is $1.6 million.