MERIWETHER COUNTY — The Meriwether County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday that it and other law enforcement agencies recovered hundreds of marijuana plants in an air and ground undercover operation July 9.

According to the sheriff’s office, with the assistance of the Governor’s Task Force Air Unit, deputies were able to identify and target four separate locations where marijuana was being grown in Meriwether County. The sheriff’s office did not disclose the locations of the grow sites.

Officials stated the air units would provide the coordinates to the ground units of the marijuana grow fields. Investigators with the ground units would then move in and confiscate the plants.

“These locations where the marijuana was being manufactured in many instances were in very heavily wooded areas, which made access extremely difficult,” said Meriwether County Sheriff Chuck Smith. “However, our guys knew this going in, that this is the way these growers operate to avoid detection.”

Smith added investigators were able to locate and recover more than 118 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of more than $500,000.

“I appreciate the dedication and hard work that these law enforcement agencies and personnel put into this all-day operation to locate the illegal marijuana grow sites,” Smith said. “This takes this marijuana out of our community and prohibits its consumption.”

He also said the investigation into the growing operations is ongoing.

The Governor’s Office of Marijuana Eradication Task Force, Georgia State Patrol, Narcotics Task Force, Upson County Sheriff’s Office, Thomaston Police Department, Georgia Department of Parole/Probation and the Georgia Department of Corrections K-9 Unit also participated in the raid on July 9.