Illegal grown marijuana plants conficated, buried

Authorities seized nearly 2,400 marijuana plants from an illegal growing operation in northern Nye County late last month and airlifted them so they could be buried in the desert, it was announced Tuesday.

A multiagency task force coordinated about 13 helicopter flights to remove the marijuana from the grow site in the Railroad Valley area, a Nye County news release said. The pot was dropped in a hole in the desert that was covered with sand and rocks.

The airlift operation was carried out by the U.S. Forest Service, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Land Management and Nevada game wardens.

Two people who were at the grow site when authorities raided the operation on Sept. 29 fled on foot.