Drug agents are seeking information regarding more than 10,000 marijuana plants found earlier this week near Excelsior in southern Candler County.
      No suspects have been identified, but helicopter pilots flew over the area around 11 a.m. May 27 and spotted a large outdoor growing operation, said Chuck Sullenger, commander of the Georgia Governor’s Tri-Circuit Drug Task Force.
      The plants – 10,090 in all – were capable of producing a pound of pot each, translating into a street value of more than $12 million, he said.
       “Officials suspect three people were living in the area of the plots and constantly tending the plants,” he said. Agents found a campsite where the suspects apparently lived at times. The plots were located near a bay or branch where three landowners’ property converged. Candler County Sheriff Homer Bell, whose department aided in the investigation, said the area was mostly woodlands near a creek
      The property owners have not been charged and are not suspected in the operation, Sullenger said. He did not identify the property owners, as they were not involved.
      Releasing details of the find was delayed due to investigations, he said.
      Agents and pilots with the Tri-Circuit Drug Task Force were in the area last week, and spotted a small plot of marijuana at a Circle Drive location near Statesboro, yielding 59 plants in a plot beside the suspects’ back door, according to Bulloch County Drug Suppression Team Inv. Marcus Nesmith.  The pilots flew over the home at the request of Bulloch County drug agents.
      The Tri-Circuit Drug Task Force, funded at 75 percent by the federal government and the rest by state funding and local matching funds,  is a unit operated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Sullenger said. He is special agent in charge at the Statesboro GBI office.
      The Tri-Circuit Drug Task Force covers part of, but not all of, three area judicial circuits – Ogeechee, Middle and Atlantic circuits, he said. There are several partner agencies that work closely with the taskforce – Candler, Evans and Tattnall county sheriff’s departments, Claxton Police Department, Georgia State patrol and Glennville Police, he said.
      Other agencies, such as the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Metter Police, assisted in the Excelsior-area marijuana investigation, he said.
      Anyone with information regarding the plants found near Excelsior is asked to call the Tri-County Drug Task Force at (912) 739-0500 or the Candler County Sheriff’s Department at (912) 685-2568, he said. Calls will remain confidential.