By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

DRUG Enforcement Unit officers uprooted more than 1,000 marijuana plants on Tuesday from three fields discovered in Long Island.

According to police, around 10am, officers in Long Island with officials from Operation Bahamas and Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) were on routine patrol, when they discovered three marijuana fields with just over 1,000 plants in bushes situated in the northern end of Long Island.

The marijuana plants were all uprooted, however no arrests were made in this incident.

Investigations into this discovery continue.

Last month, police uprooted more than 4,000 marijuana plants after officers from the DEU discovered three large marijuana fields in Marsh Harbour, Abaco.

Officer-in-charge of the DEU, Superintendent Samuel Butler said the huge discovery – one of the biggest for the year – was made near the southern end of Marsh Harbour.

According to earlier police reports, Bahamian police with officers from (OPBAT) were on routine patrol when they discovered three large marijuana fields in the pine forest last month.

Those marijuana plants, which range from six inches to six feet in height, were all uprooted.

No arrest was made in this incident, but investigations are continuing.

According to drug statistics provided by the Royal Bahamas Police Force in January, there was a sharp increase in the number of marijuana plants seized by police in 2014 – with 290,336 plants seized as opposed to the 27,746 seized in 2013.

Grand Bahama had the highest number of seized marijuana plants, with 287,812 found in 2014.