Authorities hand-picked $10 million worth of marijuana plants in South Texas

A 2-acre pot farm found by the Willacy County Sheriff's Office near Harlingen, Texas, had 11,500 plants and was worth more than $10 million, officials said. Authorities hand picked the plants, some of which stood 8 feet tall, to ensure they would not continue to grow. less A 2-acre pot farm found by the Willacy County Sheriff's Office near Harlingen, Texas, had 11,500 plants and was worth more than $10 million, officials said. Authorities hand picked the plants, some of which ... more Photo: Courtesy Photo: Courtesy Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Authorities hand-picked $10 million worth of marijuana plants in South Texas 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO - Authorities hand-picked $10 million worth of marijuana plants this month at one of the largest pot growing operations discovered by police on the Texas side of the Mexico border.

The 11,500 plants, which stood up to 8-feet-tall, weighed about 9,000 pounds and covered about 2 acres, were seized about 25 miles from the border after a chance discovery made by the Willacy County Sheriff's Office on Aug. 13. No arrests have been made in the case.

Nina Pruneda, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is leading the investigation, said authorities spent more than a day hand picking the plant's roots to ensure they would not grow back.

Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence said he'd never seen anything like it and that the operation is by far the biggest he's seen in 20 years.

See new photos of the pot farm, and some of the biggest drug busts in South Texas, in the gallery above.

Pruneda said the grow operation's location, near Harlingen, and size is unique because of its proximity to the international border.

Large-scale grow operations are routinely found in the interior of the country, but not on the U.S.-side of the border.

In July, authorities eradicated more than 100,000 plants, or $175 million worth, in 29 fields near Goodrich, about 70 miles north of Houston. In 2013, local and federal law enforcement agencies destroyed 147,277 outdoor cultivated plants in 24 separate seizures, according to the Department of Public Safety.

The Assocatied Press published a detailed account of how authorities found the operation, which is published in full below:

"Nearly a mile from a paved road, on an old dairy farm long left to its own devices, the operation was hidden amid intensive agriculture. A well-kept citrus grove sat across the dirt road, and horses browsed in a pasture nearby.

The marijuana was on the back portion of the overgrown parcel; authorities had to plow a road in just to access it. Adjacent to the field of pot, small shelters were carefully camouflaged with branches and long grass held provisions: an empty case of instant noodles, scattered egg shells and a 50-pound bag of fertilizer. Nearby, a large black plastic tarp could be unfurled for shade.

The crop's owners would have soon brought in another valuable harvest if a dozen immigrants hadn't scrambled from the abandoned barn at the front of the property straight into the marijuana on Aug. 13.

The night before, a man dialed 911, Spence said, and said he had been held, beaten and threatened in a stash house for three weeks. He tried to lead sheriff's deputies back to the spot, but couldn't find it in the dark.

Authorities returned in the daylight and found more than they bargained for when they pursued the immigrants down twisting paths.

Spence speculated that the man and other immigrants were forced to care for the marijuana plants, as three weeks is an unusually long time to be held in a stash house. Three men were arrested on immigrant harboring charges, but prosecutors dropped cases against two of them Thursday and the third waived his preliminary hearing in federal court.

Javier Davila of Edinburg hadn't farmed that parcel of his family's land since 1996. He has another 40 acres next door and has told Border Patrol before that he suspected immigrants were passing through the land because he found water bottles, food cans and backpacks.

Still, the pot farm was a shock.

Asked why he thought someone would invest the time to grow it so close to the border, Davila said, "because they've got more security on the border.

"They say 'We'll grow it here and we don't have to worry about getting caught crossing it.'""

This report contains material from The Associated Press.

kparker@express-news.net

Twitter: @KoltenParker