Virginia - Possible Cartel Activity

Possible cartel activity in Northern Virginia

Pot fields may indicate presence of drug cartels

Wednesday, 13 October 2010 14:39

Mexican drug cartels in the Northern Neck of Virginia?  We hope not, but it is possible. Million-dollar marijuana busts are not as uncommon as we might like to think.  Authorities in Michigan, New Jersey, Minnesota, West Virginia, Florida, California, New Mexico, Texas and more have all found crops of marijuana worth more than $1 million. Some of these operations are indoors, under lights.  Police will find basements or whole houses with nothing in them but trays of pot plants.  Sometimes a group will use more than one house for the purpose.  Neighbors usually suspect nothing. Many grow sites are outdoors, in fields that are hard to reach by foot.  Once again, there is usually nothing to make neighbors suspicious.  One such field was found behind the Dallas office of the DEA in 2009. What is more sinister is when those outdoor sites are run by one of the deadly Mexican cartels. Marijuana sites operated by Mexican cartels have been found in the Southwest.  In California, investigation of 126 fields found near Fresno, containing marijuana worth $1 billion, revealed 82 suspects found to have links to a Mexican drug cartel. A $24 million operation in Ellis County, Texas, turned out to have been set up by a Mexican cartel and manned by migrant workers hired by the cartel.  Another Texas site worth $7.5 million was owned by a cartel and manned by migrant workers. In Socorro County, New Mexico, is another site suspected to belong to a cartel.  The police know the identity of the person “babysitting” the crop, and hope to find more. Jaime Ramirez-Duarte, the Mexican illegally in the United States, found at the China Hill marijuana site in Richmond County in September, claims the Los Zetas cartel from Mexico forced him to stay there by threatening to kill his family. Ramirez-Duarte is currently in Northern Neck Regional Jail and is set to be indicted by the grand jury in Richmond County on Oct. 25. At this point, the police have been unable to verify that Ramirez-Duarte is connected to a cartel.  However, the three sites found in Richmond County — at China Hill, Conley Pond and Foneswood — have certain characteristics of the cartel sites. Besides being in places not visible to normal traffic, they have irrigation systems and manmade ponds.  A person or persons of little significance in the owning cartel organization camp is on the property to tend the plants.  Those higher up in the organization are far away.  The owners of the property are unaware of the use being made of their property. Asked why the cartels would choose Richmond County as a location, Sheriff Douglas Bryant said, “We have a lot of Mexican workers here.”   A Mexican caretaker does not draw a lot of attention.  He asks that hunters, not only in Richmond County, but other counties of the Northern Neck, be on the lookout for marijuana operations, especially those with campsites and irrigation.  Report anything suspicious to your local Sheriff’s Department. Peggy Garland source:  Pot fields may indicate presence of drug cartels