Tip leads to marijuana bust

Acting on a tip, lawmen swooped down on a marijuana plantation near Susupe Lake yesterday morning, seizing about 80 marijuana plants and arresting one man.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Eric F. David said a tip provided through the NMI Crime Stoppers hotline prompted authorities to initiate the raid.

The plants, ranging from two feet to four feet in height, were brought to the DPS central headquarters shortly after noon. David said the street value of the confiscated plants range from $500 to $800.

The raid was conducted by lawmen from the DPS Criminal Investigation Bureau at 8am yesterday morning.

David said the tipster called the Crime Stoppers hotline on Monday, saying that the area has 100-200 marijuana plants. Authorities received the information on Tuesday and began conducting surveillance of the area.

“Investigators went out this morning, did their surveillance, and then arrested the gardener,” David said.

The identity of the person arrested was not disclosed, pending further investigation. It was not disclosed whether the gardener was selling the illegal drug or growing it for personal use. David also declined to specify if the gardener was the owner of the lot or merely an employee.

However, the suspect was charged with illegal possession of a controlled substance.

“The case is not close and is still pending so [investigators] will finalize the classification of this case,” David said. “As soon as I get more information from the CIB personnel, I’ll release it.”

David reiterated that authorities rely on information from the Crime Stoppers hotline.

“If information comes in from Crime Stoppers hotline, we rely on that information,” he said. “The guys will go out on the field, work on the case, do surveillance, and if the information provided by the tipster corroborates the information that the guys are working on while at the field, they ask for an arrest warrant and that’s when they go out and make an arrest.”

Last April 6, authorities confiscated about 64 marijuana plants from a residential area in Kagman II, courtesy of an anonymous tip. The bust, featuring plants up to 10 feet in height, was estimated to have a street value of $800.

Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest. Caller ID is never used and all calls and online tips remain anonymous.

Anonymous tips can be reported by using the hotline at 234-7272. Online tips can also be submitted on the Crime Stoppers website at www.nmicrimestoppers.com.

The Crime Stoppers also takes tips in over 150 languages.

From its inception on April 18, 1989 to June of last year, the NMI Crime Stoppers program has received tips that resulted in 210 cases being cleared, two being homicide cases. A total of 167 arrests were made, and about $10,150 have been paid out as rewards.

Also, a total of $2,581,778 in narcotics and property have been recovered. Statistics indicate that about $2,383,985 in narcotics and $197,793 in property have been recovered.

Anyone with information on any crime is urged to call the Crime Stoppers tips line at 234-7272 (PARA). The line is always answered.