Published: August 21, 2008 12:11 pm      

Southern Indiana police target marijuana crops

On Tuesday, Indiana State Police were out on an effort to stop some of the drug business before it starts, according to newsgathering partner WLKY-32.

Indiana State Police in Sellersburg said it’s prime time for this effort because just as some crops reach their peak, and are harvested around this time of year, so are many illegally grown marijuana plants, making it the perfect season for police to get to those plants.

A team of six Sellersburg troopers and one Charlestown Drug Task Force agent suited up in camouflage, grabbed machetes and other chopping tools, and took to cornfields in Harrison County.

The team cut down marijuana plants identified during area flyovers.

The group got a total of eight plants.

Trooper Mike Bennett said Indiana is a target-rich environment for growing the drug, which is why some people climb into cornfields and plant it within the crops of unsuspecting farmers.

The owner of the property where the marijuana was cut down Tuesday morning was an elderly woman, who knew nothing about what was going on.

In cases like that, police say it might not yield an arrest, but it certainly zaps all of the time and energy put into the crop by those who planted it, and discourages them from doing it again.

Police say marijuana eradication efforts take place year-round.

— WLKY-32