Marijuana bust nets $34 million worth of plants, Nye County sheriff says

A marijuana bust in a remote mountain range in northeast Nye County netted $34 million worth of plants, according to estimates from sheriff’s deputies.

The deputies cut and confiscated 8,500 to 9,000 plants, according to the Nye County sheriff’s office, and Las Vegas police airlifted about 30 bundles of dried plants, each weighing 60 to 100 pounds.

A Nye County deputy and a National Forest Service special agent used a Drug Enforcement Agency aircraft to spot the grow operation in the Quinn Canyon Range, about 160 miles north of Las Vegas and east of Railroad Valley, Nye Sgt. Chris Puckett said. A late summer tip led them there.

The marijuana grow was located 2 1/2 miles up a canyon, Puckett said. The sheriff’s office and Forest Service also enlisted the help of Metro, the DEA, Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Air National Guard, the Ely office of the state division of investigation to break up the “sophisticated operation,” Puckett said.

Investigators found irrigation lines and huts for drying and processing. There was also a kitchen area equipped with a Coleman stove, propane bottles and food, according to the sheriff’s office.

No one has been arrested.