Turtle Assists in Pot Bust

Radio monitoring leads officials to marijuana patch
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 1, 2008 1:19 PM CDT
Turtle Assists in Pot Bust
Shown in an undated photo is abox turtle, released by the Missouri Department of Conservation on Thursday, June 21, 2007 in Jefferson City, Mo.   (AP Photo)

Agent 99, watch out: A 6-inch-long box turtle known as "No. 72” may want your job. Washington, DC, police recently got an assist from No. 72 in making a drug bust, the Washington Post reports. One of several turtles fitted with transmitters that allow National Park Service researchers to track them, No. 72 happened to receive a visit from a scientist while plodding amid some suspicious plants. "I could tell they were marijuana plants," said Ken Ferebee.

"I called the police to come see, because I knew they'd be interested in that," Ferebee continued. Police checked in on the stash occasionally for a few weeks until the grower, a 19-year-old college student, showed up to tend them. He’s been arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute the pound and a half of pot in the patch, worth about $6,500 on the street. (More marijuana stories.)

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