MARTIN COUNTY, Florida (WPTV) — Eleven people are in custody after the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said a “group of traveling thieves” was caught trying to cash in on thousands of pounds of illegally harvested saw palmetto berries.

The lucrative berries are ripe from August to November in Florida and frequently attract people looking to cash in on the fruit.

According to the sheriff’s office, an “organized crime ring” had been surveilling private property and farmland in Martin County.

Investigators said the suspects traveled from outside the county and targeted a property near Southwest Citrus Boulevard located west of Palm City.

However, detectives with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office agricultural unit said they were conducting counter-surveillance, tracking the suspects’ movem

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