CATAWBA COUNTY, North Carolina — Undercover officers executed a search warrant Tuesday morning at a large poppy grow operation in Catawba County in western North Carolina.
[ >> Read more trending news ]
Poppy plants are used to create opium, which is used to make drugs such as heroin. It is illegal to grow poppy plants in North Carolina.
Authorities are questioning two men in connection with the drug bust.
Deputies estimate that the plants found near Claremont are worth $500 million.
Almost a dozen law enforcement officers, wearing protective clothing, converged on the property to remove hundreds of plants.
Deputies said there has never been a poppy operation bust in Catawba County before.