Investigators uncover pot grows in Fresno Co fields

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County Sheriff's Deputies and federal agents have been busy raiding fields of marijuana around the Valley.

The latest was found hidden in a cornfield on Del Rey and Floral near Selma.

Fresno County sheriff's investigators uncovered another pot farm in the Valley and say it's becoming a growing problem. The pot farm in Selma was hidden in the middle of a corn field.

Investigators were working well into the night knocking down dense fields of corn and weeds used to conceal some illegal activity.

"The purpose of this corn wasn't to harvest, it was actually to conceal marijuana, and you can tell by the way these weeds have been growing, this corn really has no value anymore," Lt. Rick Ko of the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said.

Investigators found 15-hundred to 2-thousand marijuana plants within this 10 acre field in Selma thanks to a tip.

Detectives say the pot growers rented the land several months ago and told the owner they were going to grow corn.

"The property owner became suspicious because of all the weeds in here and knowing that this corn would have no value basically," Lt. Ko said.

Once on property agents discovered a stolen tractor and an abandoned house used to process the marijuana.

"They have a drying processing area down the street, that they've been working on and neighbors and the land owners had no idea this was going on," Lt. Ko said.

No arrests were made while investigators searched through the field on the ground and in the air, but that wasn't the case from an earlier bust in the day.

Five people were arrested for growing pot under the guise of medical purposes. The marijuana was hidden in a field of bitter melon off Marks and Church in Fresno County. Agents chopped more than 29 hundred plants down - a growing problem investigators are seeing in the Valley.

"It's not a very common practice any longer, it used to be probably 8 to 10 years ago, and now we see people coming back who use to plant in the mountains, back to planting in the Valley floor in areas like this," Lt. Ko said.

Investigators are still trying to identify the illegal growers in Selma and hold them accountable.

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marijuana, crimetracker, fresno county, selma, local, carlos saucedo

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