One would expect that a major drug manufacturing and distribution effort might be to blame for as many as 900 Opium plants being cultivated at one location in Georgia, but the exact opposite may be true, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
In what turned out to be a common way police happen upon criminals, a traffic accident involving a hit-and-run driver led to the drug discovery.
Officer Chris Cooper said the way the drugs were discoveredcame about due to “a pretty minor parking lot accident,” which was investigated thanks to a witness who got the tag number of the vehicle fleeing the scene, as well as a description.
That resulted in an address being produced in which police could pay a visit. Once upon the scene, the homeowner dutifully led cops to his back yard so they could take a gander at a vehicle parked there matching the description.
What they also saw out in plain view was the 900 Opium plants growing on the grounds. One click of his Smartphone and Officer Dustin Kaster captured for prosterity the plants in all their glory. He went online to find out just what they were, as he suspected drugs of some kind. And he was right.
“Opium is not something we have a lot of experience with,” Officer Chris Cooper told the press.
Obviously that’s not the case for the people living in the home where the large quantity of drugs was found. But theChronicle reported that an elderly resident in the home says the drugs are to help him self-medicate for a chronic medical condition.
It isn’t known what medical condition could warrant the need for 900 Opium plants, or if police even buy that story, but all the plants have been confiscated, nevertheless, and the Barrow County Crime Task Force was called in to weigh, process and store the drugs until law enforcement determines exactly what–if any–charges will be pending against the resident.
