State troopers seize half a million pounds of illegal marijuana in southern Oregon

Troopers with the Oregon State Police seized roughly 500,000 pounds of processed marijuana in the latest large-scale bust in southern Oregon, which has seen a number of high-profile raids on illegal marijuana farms recently.

Troopers served a warrant on a property in the 1300 block of Antelope Road in White City, north of Medford, on Thursday. The marijuana processing facility consisted of five industrial-sized warehouses that were zoned for commercial use, state police said in a statement.

Over the course of two days, officers seized roughly 500,000 pounds of processed marijuana, estimated to be worth $500 million by the Oregon State Police, along with a firearm.

More than 100 people were detained, interviewed and released, officials said. Some of those questioned were migrant workers living in “subpar” conditions with no running water, officials said.

“This is a very involved investigation and will be ongoing for several weeks,” state police said in a news release.

The seizure comes as the latest in a string of similar law enforcement actions in southern Oregon, including the raid of a 27,000 square foot potato shed in Klamath Falls earlier this year, which yielded an estimated $100 million in processed marijuana, according to authorities. [Read More @ Oregonlive]