Genius? Or Stupid? Amazing Drug Bust

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Batman would have been a little envious. In fact, any superhero or evil genius would love to have their own underground secret cave. But the geniuses who converted an underground cavern in Tennessee to a high-tech hidden base to grow marijuana got sloppy, stupid or both.

Read this amazing story and be sure to check out the pictures.

From Nashville’s News Channel 5:

What police found inside this Trousdale County cave led to the biggest pot bust in Middle Tennessee history. Now, pictures are showing details of the sophisticated set up.

From the outside, the house looks like a beautiful vacation home, but investigators say it was just a prop and what it concealed is right out the movies.

More than 1,000 marijuana plants were grown deep underground.

The house was built on top of the natural cave, but investigators say no one lived there. It wasn’t even furnished. But inside the house there is a secret passageway into the cave.

The interior of the house is just on the other side of the door. A corridor leads from the hidden doorway into the cave. The corridor has cinderblock walls and a concrete ceiling and floor.

The 40 foot long sloping corridor leads into the cave that stretches 250 feet. There are offices, living quarters, and a growing area.

The office space comes first, then a living area furnished with three or four colorful bunk beds for camping out in the cave, and a restroom with a shower and plenty of toiletries. Behind the restroom is a kitchen with a fully stocked pantry, air conditioning and microwave. All the comforts of home, only this cave was all business.

A starter room houses 500 to 600 small marijuana plants. Each just about six to 12 inches tall.

The next area has plants nearly ready to harvest. 500 to 600 plants as tall as six feet. Each had its own irrigation system. The lights and climate control kept the air at the perfect temperature: 87 degrees.

Just behind the growing area is the work space with all the equipment to keep the operation running. And in case the growers had to make a run for it, they built an escape route. It s 150 yards from the cave to the surface.

A hydraulic jack lifts a trap door, which is hidden with a boulder. The escape hatch lets out just a few steps away from the home where anyone driving by would have no idea what lies beneath.

Three men are charged with growing marijuana in that cave. None of them actually lives in Middle Tennessee, and investigators don’t think the drugs were sold in Trousdale County. Investigators say the men were growing enough marijuana to make $6 million to $8 million a year.

The amazing pictures are here:

The entrance was through a secret hydraulic door in the
garage that led to a concrete ramp that went about 50 yards into the
ground. Inside the cave was living quarters and a secret escape hatch that
led you through a tunnel that exited via another hydraulic door that
opened up a rock on the outside. It was very elaborate. The set up
allowed them to harvest every 60 days which resulted in multi-million
dollar sales. One of the guys busted was living in a house on the water
in FL and had a nice yacht.

So how did these supervillians with their underground fortress get caught? Did someone notice the local shortage of 5 gallon buckets? No, they started stealing electricity from the local powerlines to supply their fortress of solitude by splicing into it and causing power disruptions to the local area. From ShortNews here:

Cave-Grown Marijuana Operation Busted in Tennessee

HARTSVILLE, Tenn.

Three men were busted in what police say was a sophisticated pot growing operation like something out of a James Bond movie. The Marijuana was grown inside a cave with special lighting and devices to keep the temperature right.

These guys even spliced into the power lines to steal some of the power to grow these plants. This operation would grow 100 pounds of pot every 8 weeks.

District Attorney Tommy Thompson claims they where growing it faster in the cave than outside.

Brian Gibson, Greg Compton and Fred Strunk where arrested in Florida and are now in jail. Compton and Gibson’s bail was set at 5 million and Strunk’s bail was set at 15 million.

As is typical for drug busts where property was purchased with drug money, the property was forfeited. That means that the yacht, beach house and vehicles will be auctioned. But then again, so will the house with the built-in secret lair! I can only imagine that all of the potential buyers for that property will need to be screened to make sure they are not super-villains.