EXCLUSIVE: Operation Clean Sweep Nets Thousands Of Pot Plants

Some criminals in eastern Oklahoma are missing about a thousand pot plants. Operation Clean Sweep is a huge drug operation by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics that's taking place near Tahlequah.

Thursday, August 23rd 2007, 9:13 pm

By: News On 6

Some criminals in eastern Oklahoma are missing about a thousand pot plants. Operation Clean Sweep is a huge drug operation by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics that's taking place near Tahlequah. The marijuana plants discovered by OBN were not just growing wild, they were clearly cultivated, they had been watered and the male plants had been removed. News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright was invited to go along during Operation Clean Sweep. In a News On 6 exclusive she reports some of the plants were 10 feet tall and two inches in diameter.

This week dozens of state agents and local officers were briefed on how they'll seek and destroy large plots of marijuana plants. A Huey helicopter transports authorities to what they call ground zero, the area where the plants are growing. The terrain is hilly, rough and hard to get to, but that doesn't stop the men and women of law enforcement who are on a mission.

"We're stopping that marijuana from getting into the hands of our kids, in our communities, that's what we're trying to stop," said Darrell Weaver, Director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

The agents and officers use machetes to slash through the marijuana plants, some that look like small trees. At the end of the week all the plants they've cut and removed will be burned. Some of the plants are destroyed with Roundup that is dyed purple and put into a ball that hangs underneath the chopper so they can spray in very specific areas.

It's already been a successful week for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. The mission has already netted more than 500 marijuana plants. Pot plants thrown into the bed of a pickup is worth $800,000, and by the end of the week they plan to remove $2 million of marijuana from eastern Oklahoma.

For those people who argue that marijuana may be minor compared to the other illegal drug problems going on in the state right now, the agents have this response.

"I've been at this 20 years and I'm telling you, never as an agent have I interviewed anyone who's problems didn't start with marijuana, almost exclusively, stopped with marijuana," Weaver said.

These types of operations used to be more covert, but now the agents are very overt in their actions. They want their presence to send a message to growers that they should switch to legal crops or otherwise lose their entire investment.

This is the third Operation Clean Sweep this year. Itâ€™s all paid for by federal grant money, so it doesn't cost Oklahoma taxpayers hardly anything.

Watch the video: EXCLUSIVE: OBN Destroys Large Marijuana Growing Operation