Georgia police discovered a "highly" sophisticated indoor pot operation in a Gainesville home, where a basement was converted into a greenhouse holding more than 500 marijuana plants, officials told Fox News.

“The photos really don’t do it justice,” Lt. Dan Scalia, who is in charge of the Hall County Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad, told Fox News on Thursday. “Some of the plants were taller than me.”

The home was part of a large-scale indoor marijuana growing network in northeast Georgia, officials said. Five other homes were searched, and authorities said they seized more than 300 pounds of marijuana and more than 1,500 plants totaling an estimated value of $7,168,900.

“It's the biggest drug network that I have ever been a part of,” Scalia said.

The investigation began in early September after the narcotics squad received a tip about a possible grow house in the area. A three-week investigation led them to uncover a major network of interconnected homes, Scalia said.

Nine people have been arrested in connection with the operation.

Minh Luong, 53, of Gainesville; Phi Ngoc Luong, 25, of Hoschton; Henry Nguyen, 48, of Gainesville; Hang Nguyen, 53, of Duluth; and Thao Phoung Nguyen, 26, of Hoschton, were taken into custody on Sept. 18.

Trung Bui, 47, of Flowery Branch; Nam Van Dao, 46, of Gainesville; and Thu Thai Phan, 50, and Binh Van Hoang 52, both of Flowery Branch, were taken into custody several days later.

All nine suspects were charged with manufacturing, trafficking and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Additional arrest warrants were issued for Vinh To, 63; Sen Thi Do, 46; and Dung Nguyen, 47, all of Flowery Branch.

Scalia said the suspects were very stealthy in how they ran the operation – keeping a low profile, being considered good neighbors and maintaining the homes. He said basements were modified with special heat lamps and a custom ventilation system.

“Nothing [suspect] was visible on the outside of the homes,” he added. “The basements were modified to handle the capacity.”

Scalia said the narcotics squad is working to determine how long the network has been operational and where the drugs were being distributed to.

The FBI North Georgia Major Offender Task Force and the Georgia National Guard Counter Drug Task Force aided Hall County’s squad.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017...s-officials-say.html

“Minh Luong, 53, of Gainesville; Phi Ngoc Luong, 25, of Hoschton; Henry Nguyen, 48, of Gainesville; Hang Nguyen, 53, of Duluth; and Thao Phoung Nguyen, 26, of Hoschton, were taken into custody on Sept. 18.

Trung Bui, 47, of Flowery Branch; Nam Van Dao, 46, of Gainesville; and Thu Thai Phan, 50, and Binh Van Hoang 52, both of Flowery Branch, were taken into custody several days later.”

Not a L’Quan, Tyree, Bubba or Jose in the bunch. My how the demographics have changed!

Dammit!

quote:

of Flowery Branch.

Irony, Mother Nature's favorite type of humor.

I went in to a house here in the Bay Area that had been converted into a grow house. It was probably a 2.5 mil home in a gated community.

The couple had rented it to some Chinese guys.

They had cut probably 100 plus holes total in the ceiling of every room for the grow lights.

The owners had no idea this was going on and were quite distraught.

All those resources wasted on a weed bust.

quote:

they had cut probably 100 plus holes total in the ceiling of every room for the grow lights.

That doesn't sound right, at all.

Holes in the ceilings, for grow lights?

100 of them?

In a single room / in each room?

How big were these rooms?

How big were these holes?

quote:

Five other homes were searched, and authorities said they seized more than 300 pounds of marijuana and more than 1,500 plants totaling an estimated value of $7,168,900.

Or, in Colorado, $87.....

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:

quote:

they had cut probably 100 plus holes total in the ceiling of every room for the grow lights.

That doesn't sound right, at all.

Holes in the ceilings, for grow lights?

100 of them?

In a single room / in each room?

How big were these rooms?

How big were these holes?

I tried to say total for the house. Every room had holes cut that were probably 8”x16”

Still makes no sense. If you were running permanent wiring you'd cut a bunch of 8x8 holes to drill through floor joists. For something like that you'd just strap the wires right on the drywall.

Any idea on reason for holes?

Some nice Irish boys.

When my brother moved back into the area the first house he rented had obviously, at some point, had a nursery in the basement. Windows painted shut, a very cheap plastic sprinkler system, poorly wired outlets everywhere.

I guess they were trying to reclaim the vertical space the fixtures chew up (about a foot), and/or control heat better (move lights farther away from plants), and/or grow taller plants in a room with shorter ceilings, or some combination of the sort.

It's goofy, and probably unnecessary - strictly speaking, but at least makes *some* sense. My understanding from reading shit online and visiting various commercial grows in CO is that most would just grow shorter/wider plants, cool the room better, harvest sooner, etc.

It seems like a bubba/brute force decision a fool would make. The dudes I know are professionals and nerds about such things, so my perspective is surely biased toward less bubba solutions. That's a buttload of damage, probably for a negligible gain.

I wholeheartedly support reclassification/descheduling and an alcohol like legal model, and like beer - people ought to be able to make/grow their own at home, even in a rental if cared for, but destroying someone else's property like that is fucked up in every way.

Jerkoffs.

Wait a minute! We read an article not long ago that whitey was reaping the rewards of the weed business, preventing the black man from coming up. I guess them Vietnamese be enterprisin' n'shit. Brotha' can't get a break.

All that for weed?
For fuck's sake!
Let's spend another umpteen thousand dollars on going after a kid with counterfeit pokeman cards.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
All that for weed?
For fuck's sake!
Let's spend another umpteen thousand dollars on going after a kid with counterfeit pokeman cards.

In Washington State it's all about the tax revenue. The government hates competition.

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:
In Washington State it's all about the tax revenue. The government hates competition.

This, one thing legalization will do is focus the government on arresting illegal growers, importers and dealers.

Yeah, it's all about the taxes now. In 2017 Colorado has already surpassed $1 Billion in legal sales in the first 9mos, which generated about $125M in taxes in the same period (there was an article about it in the Denver Post recently, outlining the numbers). And once the Recreational aspect is going full bore in California, many think it'll be 3-5x bigger.

Plus Nevada is off to a big start, no surprise, plus Oregon and Washington, and the rest. IIRC, at present, 29 states allow some degree of legal cannabis, plus several other States who have decriminalize it. There are only a few states left (>10) where it's 100% illegal, with each having gone through this process on their own, choosing to ignore the feds.

It (prohibition) was always a losing proposition, especially money wise, a pointless waste really, costing taxpayers millions upon millions, year after year, and accomplishing nearly nothing with respect to supply or demand (but they had an "enemy"). Now, instead, they can save money via less/different enforcement and collect *significant* taxes from it.

If you divide the number of pounds (300) they found and divide by their $7,168,900, you get $23,000 per pound. I know they claim there were 1,500 plants growing, but how do they convert a growing plant in a dry product and produce the weight and price it will sell for?

No doubt they were big time sellers, but why inflate the prices? They make it look like they put a dent in the market while what comes in the country from Mexico every day makes this grow house look small scale.

Damn! All Vietnamese. Shameful.

They have busts like that about every day in CO now, especially in SoCo. Some houses have the first floor cut out with a chainsaw so the plants can grow nice and tall from the basement. They all have very dangerous wiring and end up infested with black mold. Invariably they are cartel from out of state often MX but they busted a bunch of Cubans a few days ago.