MEXICO – Marijuana eradication efforts all day Friday netted police an estimated $60,000 worth of mature plants found growing in Mexico and Rumford, Mexico police Sgt. Roy Hodsdon said late Friday afternoon.

Fifty-seven plants measuring 4 to 6 feet tall were seized from different locations off Route 120 and Backkingdom Road in Mexico. Charges are pending against suspected growers, he added.

“We’re very happy with the amount received today,” Hodsdon said. “Some of the stuff we found was definitely started indoors and some of it was started outside.”

He estimated the street value of the plants at $1,000 each.

Additionally, during the joint operation between Mexico and Rumford police, four mature pot plants were found and seized in Rumford’s Smith Crossing neighborhood off Route 108 on property owned by Rocco Puiia, 52, of South Backfield Road, according to Rumford Patrolman Scott Mills. The road is also known as Smithville Road, police said.

Mills said he then summoned Puiia on a charge of marijuana cultivation. Puiia will be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 6 in Rumford District Court.

Mills, Hodsdon, Mexico Chief Jim Theriault and Mexico officers Chuck Beale, Dean Benson and Bernadette Dickinson were assisted by marijuana spotter Tony Milligan, a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agent.

Directions to the plants were radioed to the officers on all-terrain vehicles by Milligan, who was flown over the tree tops in a Bangor-based Maine Army National Guard helicopter.