11,000 marijuana plants cut down in Onslow County's Back Swamp
Officers guided by a Highway Patrol helicopter cut down about 11,000 marijuana plants in fields off Futrell Loop Road in Onslow County's Back Swamp area, the most the sheriff's department had ever seized at once. No one was at the field and no arrests were made, though clothing left behind might identify the growers.
🇺🇸 Back Swamp area off Futrell Loop Road, Onslow County, near the Duplin County border · North Carolina, United States
County officers cut down about 11,000 marijuana plants growing in fields in the Back Swamp area near the Duplin County border on 24 August 2006, the largest seizure the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department had made.[1]A North Carolina Highway Patrol helicopter from Kinston spotted the fields off Futrell Loop Road around noon on Thursday and called in the State Bureau of Investigation and the sheriff’s department.[1]Heavy rain had flooded the swampy ground, so officers used all-terrain vehicles to reach what Sheriff Ed Brown called an extensive business-like operation rather than a casual grow.[1]
No one was at the field, though clothing and other items left behind might help identify whoever ran it, and no arrests had been made.[1]Brown said the haul would be a major disruption to whoever was selling it.[1]Twenty officers spent five hours cutting the plants down with weedeaters and machetes and hauling them out.[1]
Case data
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California's Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force seized or destroyed 55,308 pounds of illicit cannabis and eradicated 108,226 plants between July and September 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom's office said. The quarter's operations across nine counties led to 14 arrests, nine firearms and $29,215 in cash, and brought the state's nine-month total to more than $230 million in cannabis.
Arrested 14Plants destroyed 108,226Cannabis 25.0873 t
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