Up in smoke: Hill Country pot bust in Menard finds 40,000 plants

Marijuana may still be illegal in Texas but that hasn’t stopped illegal pot farms from popping up in some rural areas of the state.

Last week, a large-scale marijuana operation was discovered in Menard County, about 230 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

The pot plants were spotted during an aerial patrol by Texas Game Wardens.

During a search of the property on June 29, roughly 40,000 marijuana plants worth millions of dollars were seized, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department press release. The pot farm included camps and irrigation.

“Our game wardens have encountered armed subjects protecting grow sites, located discarded firearms within the sites, and have been contacted by hunters and landowners who have come across these sites,” said Colonel Craig Hunter, TPWD Law Enforcement Division Director said in a press release. “These large grow sites introduce a significant criminal element into the rural areas of our state. We will continue to assist local, state, and federal law enforcement whether we come across grow sites incidental to our normal patrols or are called to assist.”

This story was originally published July 4, 2016 at 10:11 AM with the headline "Up in smoke: Hill Country pot bust in Menard finds 40,000 plants."