MENOMINEE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – There was 30,000 plants bulldozed and taken from Menominee Indian tribal land on Friday.
But what exactly those plants are is up for debate.
Officials with the Drug Enforcement Agency say the plants were high-grade marijuana plants. Menominee Tribal Chairman Gary Besaw says no, that was industrial hemp.
On Friday, bulldozers were filling dump trucks with the plants from a field just west of Suring.
According to the DEA, the pot growing operation was led by growers from Colorado.
A DEA spokesperson tells FOX 11 the agency obtained a search warrant for a residence, outbuilding, and about 20 acres of tribal land.
This news came after Besaw had issued a statement saying he was upset about federal law enforcement ruining the tribe’s hemp crop.
The DEA’s announcement came after Besaw issued a statement declaring feds ruined the tribe’s hemp crop.
“I am deeply disappointed that the Obama administration has made the decision to utilize the full force of the DEA to raid our Tribe,” wrote Besaw. “We were attempting to grow industrial hemp for research purposes in accordance with the farm bill.”
There’s been an ongoing disagreement with the U.S. Attorney about whether the Menominee’s operation is compliant with the farm bill. The tribe says they’ve offered “to destroy certain strains of the industrial hemp crop that both sides had identified as problematic.”
Besaw says they will go ahead with court action to settle the industrial hemp crop issue.
No arrests were made Friday and the investigation is ongoing, according to the DEA.
