27,000 Pot Plants Found as Guard Stages Aerial Assault in Kentucky

National Guardsmen and state troopers found 27,000 marijuana plants Monday in an aerial assault at the height of the pot harvest.

Helicopter crews reported spotting 33 marijuana fields in 21 counties, and troopers began converging on the sites on foot, chopping and burning the plants, said Maj. Thomas Rakestraw, commander of the state police special investigations unit.

“If we found one field, we thought it was worth it,” said Gov. Martha Layne Collins, who put 60 guardsmen on active duty for the one-day Operation Green-Gray Sweep.

“Marijuana growers are criminals. They take an opportunity to make a quick, easy buck,” she said at a news conference.

Helicopters carrying three unarmed guardsmen and two armed troopers apiece were dispatched to each of the 16 state police posts.

The helicopters flew 200 to 300 feet above ground, and the wind from the rotors caused the silvery undersides of marijuana leaves to turn up, mirroring sunlight and making them easy to spot.

It was the first time Kentucky used guardsmen in direct support of state police in marijuana eradication, Collins said. The guard’s involvement had been limited to reporting marijuana fields spotted during training missions.

Hickman County, on the Mississippi River in western Kentucky, apparently yielded the largest single find: 10,000 to 15,000 plants growing among sugar cane.