Drug traffickers are buying suburban homes -- often in new neighborhoods that offer the cloak of anonymity -- and setting up indoor marijuana-growing operations to avoid detection by police, USA Today reported Feb. 7.

Elaborate hydroponic growing systems have been discovered in dozens of suburban homes in the Sacramento, Calif., area. An organized-crime group based in San Francisco's Chinatown is suspected of running the grow operation. "They're purchasing homes and plunking down marijuana factories smack dab in the middle of our residential neighborhoods," said Gordon Taylor, a DEA agent in Sacramento. "Our theory is they're picking newer neighborhoods because of the relative anonymity. They know the neighbors don't know each other as well as they would in established neighborhoods."

Similar suburban grow operations have been uncovered in Merrillville, Ind.; Westminster, Md.; Kankakee County, Ill., Derry, N.H., Bellevue, Wash., and  St. Lucie County, Fla.

Criminal groups are paying up to $750,000 for suburban houses, usually with no money down. The homes are gutted, with all space used for growing marijuana. Utility meters are bypassed to avoid detection due to high utility usage. Some growers even put out trash cans regularly and hire gardeners to tend the property to keep nosy neighbors off the scent.