Police eradicate 9,430 pot plants

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu police working with other law enforcement agencies and helicopters seized 9,430 marijuana plants on O'ahu public lands in a weeklong "Green Harvest" operation that ended yesterday.

"It was a pretty decent haul," said Detective Emilio Laganse of Honolulu police Narcotics/Vice Division's marijuana detail. "This one was better than average."

The five-day operation swept through O'ahu, although Laganse could not reveal specific locations for security reasons.

Operation Green Harvest is a state, county and federal program launched in the 1980s to eradicate marijuana grown in the Islands. Laganse could not reveal how often law enforcement agencies perform the Green Harvest operations on O'ahu, but said it is done regularly around the state because Hawai'i's sunny climate allows the plant to be grown year-round.

Laganse said nearly all of the marijuana crop confiscated in the latest O'ahu sweep were grown on state land in the mountainous areas. "These are remote areas usually accessible only to hikers and hunters," said Laganse

The plants seized ranged from seedlings to 8 feet tall, he said. The operation was conducted by Honolulu police Narcotics/Vice Division, state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawai'i National Guard, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Police officers from Maui and Hawai'i counties also participated in the O'ahu operation.

Laganse said routine surveillance by law enforcement officials and tips from hikers and hunters led officers to the location of the marijuana plants.

Similar Green Harvest operations on the Big Island in August and Kaua'i in May ripped up 12,418 and 4,868 marijuana plants respectively.

Laganse said the operations are conducted not only to eradicate the drug, but for public safety reasons.

"There have been instances where hikers and hunters have been threatened or scared off by growers," he said.