Feds, local police launch raids on up to 50 black-market marijuana grow houses in Denver area

Scores of agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency fanned out early Thursday morning in a coordinated raid of up to 50 suspected black-market marijuana grow houses in the Denver metro area, authorities say.

Dozens of search warrants were served on homeowners and residents across the metro area, said Randy Ladd, spokesman for the DEA’s Denver field office.

Agents could be seen stacking uprooted marijuana plants on the driveways of multiple homes in the 10900 block of Unity Lane in Commerce City, and a few miles away in the 11500 block of Chambers Drive.

The law enforcement officers also stacked dozens of heat lamps used for growing marijuana on the lawn, and loaded bags of cash into U-Haul trucks. DEA agents arrived around 7 a.m. and some of the homeowners were inside at the time.

The home on Unity Lane was one of two houses raided in the same block. A car in the driveway of one of the targeted homes had a car seat in it and a stroller could be seen in the garage. [Read more at The Denver Post]