Major marijuana find for Coffee County

The Coffee County Sheriff's Department — ¬¬along with the Enterprise Police Department, the Drug Task Force and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency — seized an estimated 67 pounds and 143 plants of marijuana on Wednesday, June 24.

According to Chief Deputy Ronnie Whitworth, the ALEA flew a helicopter over Alabama Highway 167, near Jack, and located some marijuana plant stalks. This led to the discovery of a major growing operation.

"They were flying the area of Highway 167 and had located a few plants at a residence," Whitworth said. "They in turn called our agency. Our investigators found the source of the marijuana and made an arrest on the scene. They got a search warrant, went inside the house and found an indoor drying unit inside the house."

Whitworth said a greenhouse was also found at the residence, as well as a trailer being prepared as a growing station.

Officers arrested Larry Michael Holland, 56, of Jack. He is charged with first-degree unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance and drug trafficking cannabis.

Officers recovered an estimated 67 pounds of bagged marijuana and 143 plant stalks, estimated to cost about $400,000.

"For this area, I haven't seen this much marijuana in a long time," Whitworth said. "I know that it's a lot of dope for this area, a lot of marijuana. I know that he was in big business doing it."

The ALEA is continuing to fly over the area to see if more plants can be found.

According to Whitworth, the charges against Holland could change or more could be added.

Whitworth said that the key to stopping the sale of marijuana is to stop the manufacture of it.

"You take all this marijuana and just think about how many people it put out of business," Whitworth said. "If you're going to put dealers out of business, you get the manufacturer first. That's what we did in this case. This put a lot of dealers out of business."

Holland is currently being held at the Coffee County Jail. No bond has been set.