Mushroom hunters discovered a secret marijuana growing operation on the property of Kansas City International Airport. Waiting until harvest time to seize the crop,  investigators believe it was the work of Mexican Nationals.

Captain Eric Holland of the Platte County Sheriff’s Office is convinced they stopped the work of a sophisticated Mexican drug trafficking organization.

Why would foreign nationals want to plant their crop on U.S. Soil? Holland says it’s about keeping overhead down while branding your illegal product. He says its unlikely it would have sold well if people knew it was ditch weed from a farm in Missouri.

It’s estimated the plants had a street value of  five million dollars. 

Ray Read of KCMO contributed to this report.