According to Washington County Sheriff Otto Hanak, police executed a search warrant early Monday morning after receiving reports of marijuana being grown in the 11,000 block of Palestine Road. Members of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Brenham Police Department Fusion and Tactical Unit, Texas Highway Patrol troopers, D.P.S. Criminal Investigative Division agents, and a D.P.S. Aircraft division helicopter assisted in the search and seizure of the illegal drugs.
With the assistance of a local landowner, officers secured the 50 acre plus area in an effort to apprehend drug traffickers that may have been on or near the property.Once making entry, the teams, along with the D.P.S. helicopter, located several fields of marijuana in various stages of growth. Evidence suggested suspects had been living in the wooded area near the fields. That evidence is currently under investigation and is being analyzed.
Once the area was secured and no suspects were located, officers seized the growing marijuana as evidence. Approximately 3,450 plants ranging from two to eight feet high were seized, with a street value of approximately $1,725,000.00.
This makes the 6th marijuana growing operation shut down in Washington County since January 2013. The Sheriff’s Office is working with State, Federal and city law enforcement agencies to identify, locate, and apprehend those responsible for conducting these illegal activities in our county and surrounding areas.
The Sheriff’s Office thanks the community for its information and encourages citizens to be vigilant and observant and to report anything out of the ordinary to law enforcement agencies.