On 30 April 2008 the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with the North Florida HIDTA and many other agencies, raided high-potency indoor cannabis grow houses in 48 Florida counties in Operation D-Day.[1] The effort, coordinated by the South Florida HIDTA with the Central and North Florida HIDTAs, aimed at hydroponic grow operations run as organised criminal enterprises and linked to home invasions, robberies, kidnappings, arsons and homicides.[2] The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced the preliminary results on 1 May.[2]
Officers made 135 arrests and seized 9,249 cannabis plants from more than 150 houses, plants officials valued at an estimated $41 million.[1][2][3] In the South Florida region alone they made 74 arrests and took 3,400 plants from 74 houses; in Duval County the sheriff seized 632 plants, seven firearms and a bulletproof vest and arrested 14 people.[1][2] The cases were to be prosecuted by local and federal authorities.[2]
Disputed raid
Defence lawyer Norm Kent wrote that sixteen agencies combined on a single day to bust 150 grow houses, and that only about ten guns and a vest were found in South Florida.[3] He also described agents storming the wrong house in Opa-locka, throwing a resident down at gunpoint before realising the mistake.[3]
