EUSTIS – Three men were arrested Sunday night on drug charges after a border patrol agent stopped a vehicle on Eustis Ridge Road.

Paul Ford, 24, and Nicholas Sants, 25, both of Eustis, and Logan Duffy-Stanley, 23, of Benedicta, were charged with cultivation of marijuana. Ford was also charged with furnishing marijuana and Sants on unlawful possession of scheduled drugs.

Franklin County Detective Niles Yeaton said the agent was observing traffic arriving on Route 27 from Canada when he saw a suspicious vehicle driven by Ford heading up Eustis Ridge Road. After stopping the vehicle, the officer smelled what he believed to be marijuana, said Yeaton, and asked Ford if he could search his home. Ford complied.

Deputy David Rackliffe and Cpl. Nathan Bean of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department assisted agents of the Rangeley border patrol and a drug-detection dog in searching the man’s home at 478 Eustis Ridge Road. They found and confiscated an indoor growing operation that filled two loaded pickups, including about six ounces of processed marijuana, roughly 60 marijuana plants, 20 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, pots, marijuana seeds, grow lights, potting soil, three carbon dioxide tanks (used to enhance the growth process), two rifles, two shotguns and $700 in cash.

All three were released from the Franklin County jail Monday morning on $5,000 unsecured bail each, with conditions of not possessing illicit drugs or dangerous weapons and being subject to random search and testing.

About 2 p.m. Monday, Sgt. Steven Lowell and Cpl. Stephen Charles of the Sheriff’s Department arrived at the Eustis Ridge residence and discovered the three men smoking marijuana. They also found another ounce of marijuana there. All three were again arrested and charged with violation of conditions of release. They are being held without bail and will appear in court today.