Massive $10M pot bust spans three counties

Call it a different take on “Jersey Fresh.” Authorities are crediting a Monroe Township police officer with sniffing out what turned out to be the locus of an alleged $10 million indoor marijuanagrowing operation, the largest in the state’s history.

“This investigation started at the local level,” Monroe Police Chief John Kraivec said. “A Monroe Township patrol officer utilizing his training, initiative and street sense uncovered a multimillion-dollar drug operation.”

Officer Thomas Lucasiewicz was on patrol Feb. 17 when he caught a whiff of marijuana smoke that was reportedly curling out of the chimney of a house at 558 Spot swood-Engl i shtown Road. When Lucasiewicz and other officers knocked on the door and entered the home, they found “overpowering evidence” that Thu N. Nguyen, 44, was burning unusable parts of marijuana plants in the fireplace, according to state Attorney General Paula T. Dow.

High-tech, indoor marijuana-growing operations are nothing new in the Garden State, but authorities have never seen anything that matched this pot bust, Dow said.

“These defendants might be called tenant farmers in one sense, because of their use of rental properties, but they certainly were not struggling to pay the rent with their harvest,” she said.

Police reportedly found three cultivation areas in the basement of the home and one in the master bedroom. Authorities detailed the arrests and locations of the operation at a March 10 press conference in Monroe.

They seized 1,064 marijuana plants in different stages of growth, 50 pounds of packaged marijuana from the garage, and $4,000 in cash from the home in Monroe. The house was equipped with a surveillance system with four cameras to monitor the outside of the home, according to police.

Nguyen, a Canadian citizen, was charged with maintaining a marijuana cultivation facility, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, and theft of services for allegedly stealing electricity to power the numerous grow lights. Nguyen was lodged at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, North Brunswick, in lieu of $1 million bail, with no 10 percent option, authorities said.

More search warrants were issued the following day for three locations and one vehicle.

Police found sophisticated grow areas, 504 marijuana plants and 50 pounds of harvested bulk marijuana at a home on 38 Robbins Road in Millstone Township, police said. Authorities arrested Tuan A. Dang, 35, Port Monmouth section of Middletown, and Ngoc H. Bui, 35, of Old Bridge at the Millstone house. Dang and Bui, naturalized U.S. citizens, were both charged with maintaining a marijuana cultivation facility, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute and theft of services

electricity). They were both lodged at the Monmouth County jail in lieu of $1 million bail, with no 10 percent option.

New Jersey State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones said the owner of the Millstone home, who he did not identify, lives in Florida. He said police reportedly found 450 plants at that location, which he deemed a “highvalue

piece of real estate.”

“All houses had destructive alterations, including holes cut to accommodate vent ductwork from basement to attic or upper windows and electrical alterations to bypass meters,” Jones said.

Jones also said that bags of cultivation refuse and used soil were stored in the homes.

“There were many thousands of watts of grow lights and fans,” he said.

Authorities also searched a home at 47 Westley Road, Old Bridge, the same day that they searched the Millstone home and allegedly found 640 plants and 15 pounds of packaged marijuana in a car parked in the garage.

Police also searched Bui’s Old Bridge home on Feb. 18, reportedly finding $60,000 in cash, packaging materials, growth notebooks and fertilization notes.

The investigation continued on Feb.19 with the search of a home at 535 Beach Avenue in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township, Ocean County. There, authorities said they found 464 marijuana plants, numerous lights and timers and equipment used to divert electricity.

On the same day, police also allegedly found a large marijuana cultivation operation in a home at 15 Stayman Court in Manalapan, along with 698 plants and growing equipment.

Authorities believe the plants were propagated by cloning them from other plants, rather than growing them from seed, Dow said.

Authorities reported seizing a total of 3,370 growing marijuana plants, 115 pounds of harvested marijuana and $65,000 in cash from all the locations.

Agencies involved in the investigation included the Monroe Township Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, the Barnegat, Manalapan, Sayreville, Stafford and Old Bridge police departments; the U.S. Marshall’s Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration.