EVERETT — More than 1,500 marijuana plants, 60 pounds of pot and a kilo of cocaine were seized Tuesday morning as part of an inter-agency operation to dismantle a drug ring.
Following an almost three-year investigation, drug enforcement agents arrested 10 people throughout Snohomish and King counties, said Lt. Mark St.Clair, a spokesman for the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force.
Agents also seized about 400 immature plants, called “starts,” several cars, two guns and a bulletproof vest.
“More than the medicinal amount,” St.Clair said, referring to the state law that allows for possession of medical marijuana.
As many as 100 federal agents and police officers from different departments raided seven homes and two storage lockers on Tuesday morning. They arrested eight men and two women, between 25 and 53 years old, St.Clair said.
The task force first got a tip about the drug organization in 2007, after a young couple tending a marijuana grow house in Everett were killed in a robbery attempt. It’s unclear if the two cases are related, St.Clair said.
Warrants were served in Everett, Lynnwood and Renton, among other places.
The group was stealing electricity to grow large quantities of marijuana inside single-family homes, alleged a police affidavit filed Wednesday in Everett District Court. The homes typically were unoccupied except when plants were being tended. Near the end of the growing cycle, someone would stay at the house for security. Robberies have been common to this drug ring, the court document said. When the crop was gathered, it was weighed and packaged into one-pound sacks, then taken to a central location for distribution.
“It’s a drug trafficking organization involved in manufacturing and distribution of marijuana and distribution of cocaine,” St.Clair said. “These people are very experienced at growing.”
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
