AUBURN – Local drug agents this week searched homes in Auburn and as part of a investigation into a marijuana growing operation on the other end of the state.

No charges have been filed in the case, but investigators say arrests are imminent.

Late Tuesday night, Auburn police and several drug agents gathered in Lewiston before heading off to search an apartment and a house in Auburn.

They were searching for evidence in a marijuana grow operation investigators say had the potential to earn the growers nearly a million dollars in proceeds.

“That’s a lot of money,” said Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Supervisor Gerry Baril. “This was not for somebody’s personal use.”

In Washington County, drug agents seized about 1,600 marijuana plants this week in what has been called the largest bust in Down East Maine in more than a decade.

The plants, which were protected by booby traps, would have been worth at least $900,000 if processed and sold on the street, investigators said.

Baril said evidence was found in Washington County indicating that the grower may have had an arrangement with buyers in the Auburn area.

“Based on the evidence that was found at the scene, we secured warrants to search those residences in Auburn and Danville,” Baril said. “That’s what we did. We haven’t charged anybody yet, but we certainly have those intentions.”

It was not disclosed what drug agents found at those two homes. Recovered evidence is expected to be turned over to the District Attorney’s Office. Police declined to name the suspects in the case.

On Tuesday, more than 20 officers from Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and the Maine Warden Service gathered for a briefing before fanning out in teams to locate and seize the plants.

The plants were pulled out of the ground one by one and shipped to a location in southern Maine. Baril said each of the 1,600 plants seized had the potential to produce up to a pound of pot to be sold. Locally, the average price for a pound of marijuana is between $2,000 and $3,000, Baril said.