It’s A Jungle Out There: Booby Trapped Marijuana Plots
Sure, you hear the argument nearly every day that pot is harmless. It just makes you laugh and eat a lot. Well, that may be true on the consumer’s end, but not so much for the police officers assigned to marijuana eradication duties. I know, I know, many of you will argue that cops should leave pot growers alone. Maybe so. That’s not for me to decide. However, until the stuff is legalized, the boys in blue have a job to do. You see, they don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing which laws they should enforce.
So, each year, especially during the outdoor growing seasons, police officers begin the dangerous task of locating marijuana plants. This job is not a simple walk through the woods skipping merrily along until they happen upon a grouping of “potted” plants. Not at all. Many marijuana growers booby trap their plots (Please don’t confuse these plot traps with the kind used by Stephen King and Jeffery Deaver) to prevent detection by authorities, and against the thieves who travel around the countryside stealing other people’s plants.
Officers must be on the alert for several types of booby traps. Trip wires connected to various devices, much like those soldiers faced during the Vietnam War, are used to protect growing operations. Marijuana growers use the trip wires in various ways, from connecting them to simple and harmless alarm systems made from car batteries and horns, to more deadly devices such as attaching the lines to loaded shotguns, sharpened bamboo stakes, and even explosive devices.
Officers must also be vigilant for boards with large nails driven through them. Criminals make these boards and then cover them with leaves and other natural forest debris, leaving them for someone to step on.
Even small plots, such as the one pictured below can be booby trapped. Growers have been known to tie fishing line to poisonous snakes, connecting the other end to a tree. The angry snakes are then forced to remain in the marijuana plot, which is extremely dangerous for anyone stepping into the area.
Devices such as the spike and rock filled contraption below, are hung from trees and connected to trip wires in the paths below. When someone contacts the trip wire, the device is released and swings down hitting the intruder with tremendous force.
Bear traps are often set and placed along paths leading to marijuana plots. Again, they’re covered with leaves and other natural debris.
Punji stick (stake) traps are often found in marijuana plots. Holes are dug and then punji sticks are arranged in the pit bottoms.
Aggressive dogs are often left to guard an owner’s plot.
Below is a photo of some items used for booby trapping marijuana plots.
Hunters and hikers have stumbled into marijuana plots, and the results have sometimes been deadly. Some have contacted booby traps, and some have been shot by the growers themselves. Some marijuana growers have even turned to professional protection for their crops. In Austin, Texas, one grower hired machine-gun toting members of the Bandido motorcycle club to guard his crop.
So, as I said earlier, locating and eradicating marijuana plots is a very dangerous job. It’s certainly no walk in the park.
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March 4th, 2010 9:24 am
This certainly makes you think twice about taking a walk in the woods.
But I’m curious. When someone stumbles onto a nasty device protecting a plot, damage will be done. But does that act as a deterrent to the police, or does it make them that much more eager to track down the person who planted the stuff? And what does that person expect and hope for from his boobytraps?
March 4th, 2010 9:54 am
It’s been my experience that people who break the law are missing some life skills such as the big C’s, consequences, common sense, and cost-benefit analysis. Jail is just a risk they accept. They find it very hard if not impossible to articulate an answer to the question ‘why?’.
In the case of pot growers, who in my vicinity usually grew the stuff near or around their illegal still, the answer to your question would be to protect their property. Then they would nod their heads as if wondering if you might be simple. It’s a very different world.
March 4th, 2010 10:20 am
Boy that is some vicious protection.
March 4th, 2010 10:31 am
Good post, thanks. You’re so right, as long as it’s illegal the job has to be done and it’s very dangerous. Here in Canada we’ve seen marijuana become one of our biggest industries and in addition to some large scale outdoor growing we now have a huge amount of grow houses in the suburbs - also booby trapped and very dangerous.
March 4th, 2010 11:05 am
When my husband took over maintenance/facilities at his job, one of the first things he had to handle was a police helicopter landing in the parking lot telling him they spotted a marijuana forest in the woods behind the plant. He jumped right in to help police clear the plants away and keep the company’s name clean. And we had a good laugh about it later, it was so unexpected. But now I’m thinking that experience could have ended a lot worse. Thank goodness there were no booby traps. Thanks for the warning, Lee.
By the way, is the early bird registration still open for the Writer’s Police Academy, or has that passed?
March 4th, 2010 11:08 am
The early bird registration is still open. Hurry! :)
March 4th, 2010 3:29 pm
Thanks for this post and the pix. This is PERFECT for a plot I’ll be working on eventually.
March 4th, 2010 3:37 pm
Ann. Perfect for a “plot?” Are you by any chance planning a new garden, or where you referring to a book…:)
March 4th, 2010 7:16 pm
Wow. Interesting and scary. I may be able to incorporate this into a future book as well, since I’m focusing on the DEA. Thanks!
March 4th, 2010 8:25 pm
Gwen - Thanks for stopping by, and I’m glad we’re able to help in some small way