EPHRATA — A series of drug busts in central Washington saw officers seize more than 41,000 pounds of illegal marijuana and 56 illegal guns.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office says 24 people were arrested and $55,000 in cash was seized.
The drug busts occurred in Grant, Franklin and Adams counties in August and September.
The campaign dismantled illegal grow operations in Grant County towns like Ephrata, George, Mattawa, Moses Lake, Quincy, Soap Lake, Schwana, Warden, and Wheeler. Busts were also made in Othello and Mesa.
Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones says the operation removed the associated criminal element growing, guarding, and processing the marijuana.
He says the investigation also uncovered a tactic where illegal growers posed as legal growers, with fake documents they used to lease land from unsuspecting owners.
