Two detained in bust of big weed farms

A multimillion-dollar crop of marijuana will never make it to market as authorities on Thursday put some major weed growers out of business. The bust occurred in the Orange Walk District thirteen miles southwest of San Felipe Village on land owned by the environmental group Programme for Belize. A team of police, B.D.F. soldiers and Rangers from P.F.B. raided a total of seven plantations and destroyed just under thirty thousand plants ranging from one to six feet in height. Also confiscated was forty-four pounds of marijuana that had already been harvested and compressed, as well as a sack containing fifteen pounds of marijuana seeds. Unlike most weed busts, this one also had some drama as police report that two men were found in the area, one of whom took a shot at the cops. He was, according to a press release, overpowered and captured without further incident. Both suspects were detained pending charges. The growing of marijuana on the vast Programme for Belize lands has been going on for decades. The organisation makes regular aerial surveys of the property in which suspected weed fields are identified and G.P.S. coordinates taken. Law enforcement authorities are then informed and the men with guns move in, assisted by experienced bush guides from P.F.B.