Undercover officers executed a search warrant Tuesday morning at a large poppy grow operation in Catawba County in western North Carolina.

Poppy plants are used to create opium, which is used to make drugs such as heroin. It is illegal to grow poppy plants in North Carolina.

Deputies estimate that the plants found near Claremont are worth $500 million.

Almost a dozen law enforcement officers, wearing protective clothing, converged on the property to remove hundreds of plants.

Authorities are questioning two men in connection with the drug bust.

Deputies said there has never been a

bust in Catawba County before.

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Julian Conley listens during opening statements in his trial at Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. The 25-year-old is accused of fatally shooting 8-year-old Secoriea Turner in July 2020. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com