Busts net millions in cannabis

Local News

Discussion

September 28, 2009

BY BRIAN L. HUCHEL The Commercial-News Mon Sep 28, 2009, 08:12 PM CDT

DANVILLE — Local law enforcement teamed with Effingham and Edgar county authorities to make a multi-million drug bust last week.

Steve Guess, director of the Vermilion County Metropolitan Enforcement Group, confirmed officers confiscated 676 pounds of marijuana in two busts on Thursday and Friday. The drugs have a street value of around $2.3 million.

Guess said the busts were the result of a year-long investigation by VMEG, which worked in coop-eration with the Effingham County Sheriff’s Department to put together the case.

Six people — three from Vermilion County — were arrested in connection with the case. They are each charged in Vermilion County Circuit Court with manufacturing cannabis and possession of can-nabis.

Guess said the group was a cannabis ring responsible for growing the illegal drugs in a number of places, including Vermilion, Champaign, Effingham and Edgar counties as well as in Indiana. As many as 80 stalks of the cannabis plant were found in one location in rural Sidell.

Investigators believe the cannabis was sold as far away as Chicago.

The busts began Thursday night with a search warrant executed at an address along County Road 400E in rural Fairmount. Danville city police officers and Vermilion County Sheriff’s Department deputies helped in the bust.

Guess said the location was the main drying area for the plants. Officers found large amounts of cannabis in various stages of drying or being processed in the home, a garage and a machine shed. Also located on the property were methamphetamine manufacturing materials.

On Friday, a second bust done with the help of the Edgar County Sheriff’s Department was carried out at a property along County Road 2800N in the rural Sidell area.

Guess called the second location a storage area for the cannabis, a large amount of which was found packaged and ready to be shipped.

In addition to the marijuana, four firearms and the drugs Ecstasy and LSD were found.

This is the second large marijuana bust in Vermilion County this year. VMEG was involved in a multi-jurisdictional investigation at the beginning of March that netted three arrests and, overall, a little more than 700 pounds of marijuana grown in Mexico.

The arrests took place in a small single-story home at 512 Thompson Ave. on the north side of Hoopeston.

Text Only

Local News

The Bully Project
February 15, 2012 1 Photo
Permit numbers sluggish for 2011
Danville District 118’s South View Middle School renovation helped last year’s city building permit report.

February 15, 2012
New retail affects routes
Danville Mass Transit is applying for three grants — one to increase bus service to commercial properties already here and other retailers expected on North Vermilion Street.

February 15, 2012
Wind farm must file soil report
Another question faces the application process of Vermilion County’s second wind farm.

February 15, 2012
Public libraries to receive grants
Annual state funding allows the local public library and others throughout the state to stay current with their book collections.

February 15, 2012
Church offers German meal
Diners can enjoy an ethnic meal — German food and music — at the 16th annual “A Taste of Deutschland” this weekend.

February 15, 2012
Monday matinee set at library
February 15, 2012
Catlin building still not for sale
A disagreement on the future of the village-owned building at 106 E. Davis St., resulted in a failed attempt to place the now vacant building for sale.

February 15, 2012
Program explores black history
February 15, 2012
Police, Fire Reports
February 15, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

Busts net millions in cannabis

Site Map

Contact Us