MERCER - Charges are pending against a number of suspects linked to hundreds of marijuana plants found growing outdoors across Mercer County, state police said.

The plants had the potential return of nearly $800,000 on the street.

Troopers from the Troop D vice unit in Butler uprooted and seized the plants between Aug. 3 and Sunday as part of a marijuana eradication effort.

Mercer County was targeted following several simultaneous investigations aided by police helicopter surveillance and tips from farmers, according to a vice trooper who did not want to be identified.

The vice officer said arrests could be made within the next two weeks.

Search warrants were used and numerous interviews done as part of the investigations into outdoor marijuana growing operations.

About half of those plants confiscated were fully mature.

The vice officer noted illegal growers often use private farmland, typically owned by others, or public lands to avoid both identification and the potential of losing their own property under forfeiture laws.

The plants taken during last week's eradication were photographed, and samples taken before being destroyed.