Authorities Seize $ 20 Million Marijuana From Illegal Exploitation

An anonymous informant led the California police to discover one of the largest marijuana farms ever found in Riverside City, officials said Friday.

Authorities in Riverside, California, were called Thursday on a 10-acre property on McAllister Street in the Greenbelt neighborhood, where they discovered more than 40,000 marijuana plants growing in a large greenhouse.

Scott Albertsons, a neighbor of the growing business, told ABC's ABC ABC station that the land had been sold about six months ago and that buyers "came and installed this new fence, that you could not see through ".

The neighbor said that the farm had started to produce a strong smell.

"We have not called," Albertsons told KABC. "We thought that a policeman would pass by and feel it because you could smell it, especially in the evening and early in the morning."

The Riverside Police Service estimated the market value of the plants at $ 20 million. No arrests have been made.

Officers took 24 hours to remove cannabis plants, as well as thousands of pounds of fertilizer and pesticides.

Although it is not clear whether the farm was licensed by the state as a cultivation site, California's marijuana laws allow private residences to grow only six cannabis plants or less .