Authorities in Belarus say they have busted "the largest marijuana production [operation] in years."
Police searching for the source of "high-quality" marijuana that started circulating in the eastern Vitsebsk region in recent months found the facility in a town in the neighboring Minsk region, the Vitsebsk Interior Directorate said on February 4.
The marijuana-growing operation was located in a 200-square-meter house with barred windows, a statement said, adding: "Police had to use special tools to open heavy metal doors to reach large greenhouses inside."
"The autonomous energy supply system [installed] to support the necessary microclimate and sophisticated agricultural equipment indicated wide-scale production," the statement said.
The statement said that, among other things, hundreds of pots with marijuana plants at various stages of growth were found in the building, along with marijuana that was ready to sell.
Several people suspected of running the business were detained, it said.
Neither the date of the arrests nor the exact number of the suspects and their identities was disclosed.
"One thing can be said for sure," the statement added: "The production [operation] was the largest to be discovered [in Belarus] in recent years."
