The Gloversville Police Department, in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies, discovered more than 600 marijuana plants across Fulton and portions of Montgomery County.
Gloversville Police Capt. John P. Sira Jr., said Friday that 658 marijuana plants were found in a two-day marijuana eradication operation.
Plots for growing marijuana were found in the towns of Northhampton, Mayfield, Johnstown, Perth, Ephratah, Oppenheim, Stratford, Broadalbin and Amsterdam.
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This photo from the Gloversville Police Department shows a pile of marijuana plants found by authorities during a recent search for the plants.
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The marijuana was found in a variety of locations, including vegetable gardens, swamps, backyards, farms and remote woodlands.
Sira said this harvest was on average or slightly above average with previous eradication operations.
Gloversville police worked with the New York State Police, the New York State Bureau of Criminal Investigations Unit, Community Narcotics Enforcement Team, the New York State Police Aviation Unit, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department and the New York Army National Guard.
According to Sira, National Guard and New York State Police pilots searched the area from helicopters. Using trained spotters, they would look for plots of marijuana before calling in ground teams to swoop in and take possession of the drugs.
Sira said he could only assume that the drugs were being grown to sell, with one plot exceeding 300 plants.
However, Sira said, it appears, in some cases, there was marijuana growing that the property owners did not know about.
"We located a large quantity of marijuana in the town of Oppenheim on a farm that the owners did not know about it," Sira said.
Sira said the farm in question was not fully functioning and the owners were elderly.
Arrests are still pending from the eradication effort.
Sira said any marijuana connected with any one person would be bagged as evidence with the BCI, while those unaccounted for would be destroyed.