Marijuana Sweep 10/08/99

HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
HILO VICE SECTION
LIEUTENANT HENRY TAVARES
PHONE: 961-2253
OCTOBER 8, 1999
G-08034

MEDIA RELEASE

Police discovered booby traps in the form of sharpened branches of ohia trees Wednesday (October 6, 1999) during a marijuana sweep off Saddle Road.

The branches were sharpened in a way to injure law enforcement personnel rappelling from helicopters, police said.

During the four-day Counter-Cannabis Field Operation which ended Friday, police destroyed 18,032 plants ranging in height from seedlings to 11 feet.

The marijuana eradication effort was concentrated in the Hawaiian Acres, Fern Acres, Eden Roc, Tiki Gardens, Keaau, Paradise Park, Kapoho, Ainaloa, Mountain View, Nanawale and Kalapana areas of Puna; the Saddle Road, Papaikou, Pepeekeo and Hakalau areas of South Hilo; the Waipunalei, Kukaiau and Ookala areas of North Hilo; and the Honokaa, Waipio, Waimanu and Keanakolu areas of Hamakua.

Assisting Big Island police in the operation were personnel from the Honolulu, Maui and Kauai Police Departments, Hawaii National Guard, State Department of Conservation and Resources Enforcement and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Acting on a search warrant, police arrested a 43-year-old woman in the Kalapana Black Sands subdivision of Puna. They also recovered 5.6 ounces of dried marijuana, 104 marijuana plants ranging in height from seedlings to 5 feet and illegal drug paraphernalia, including a suspected crack pipe. The woman was released pending further investigation.

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