THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408260625
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Relying on a tip and some high-tech snooping, state and city police raided an apartment in Park Place on Thursday and took into custody everything living: 281 marijuana plants with a potential street value of $1.5 million.
``It's pretty big for around here,'' said Bob Jasinowski, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations for the state police. ``It's the first case I've ever encountered around here where they were growing it in a building'' in such quantities.
The raid on the apartment building, at 116 W. 28th St. at Omohundro Avenue, came about 4:10 p.m. No one was in the apartment at the time.
State police had been working on the case, prompted by a tip, for the past month, Jasinowski said.
A police helicopter armed with infrared equipment was used to survey the area.
The sensors, which measure temperature gradients, detected the heat of special lights being used to nurture the plants. With that evidence, state police obtained a search warrant.
The immediate value of the marijuana seized was set at $500,000. But based on a normal growing season, the plants' ultimate value could have reached $1.5 million, Jasinowski said.
And the operation had room for major expansion, he said.
``I wouldn't say it was a real elaborate operation, . . . but they had the potential for about 1,500 plants,'' Jasinowski said.
In addition to the plants, police found carbon-dioxide tanks, bags of fertilizer, potting soil, high-powered grow lights able to simulate day and night light cycles, and a book detailing how to build an ``easy grow greenhouse.''
Some plants were barely seedlings growing in small, plastic flats. Others, measuring about 6 to 12 inches, had been transplanted to individual plastic pots.
All the plants were believed to be less than 2 months old. At maturity, they could have grown to a height of 10 to 12 feet.
It was unclear how long marijuana had been grown at the apartment building.
State police carried plants from the house and loaded them into a rental truck Thursday night.
``We're seizing it and hauling it away,'' Jasinowski said. ``It will be kept as evidence and eventually destroyed.'' He did not say where the marijuana plants would be kept in the meantime.
No arrests have been made. Police are checking leads and interviewing neighbors, many of whom said they were surprised by the goings-on next door.
KEYWORDS: DRUG ARREST MARIJUANA by CNB