cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Plants Estimated At $15 Million Found!





Marijuana Plants Estimated At $15 Million Found!
Posted by FoM on August 11, 1999 at 18:34:37 PT
Los Padres National Forest, Calif. 
Source: SF Gate
More than 5,000 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $15 million were discovered growing among thick chaparral in the Los Padres National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service said. 
Several law enforcement agencies worked Wednesday to remove the illicit plant, a task that would take at least two days because of the rough terrain, remote location and huge quantity of plants. Each plant was estimated at about $3,000 and probably would have been harvested in September or October, said Kathy Good, a spokeswoman for Los Padres National Forest. ``That value may go up because we may find more plants as the removal operation continues,'' said Good. About 40 members from the Forest Service, Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, California Department of Justice, and the police departments from Santa Barbara and Santa Maria worked on uprooting and clearing the crop. ``The plants are being cut and ferried out by helicopter in large nets,'' said Good. The plants will be brought to an undisclosed location and burned. The huge marijuana farm in the Bear Creek Drainage area was discovered at the end of June during a routine air reconnaissance mission. Authorities kept the area under surveillance and spotted two men on Tuesday. The men fled into the dense brush, eluding sheriff's deputies. The suspects remain at large but authorities believe they had been in the area for a while. The site also had enough food and other supplies for a few months, a tent, clothing, fertilizer and tools, Good said. The marijuana seizure is believed to be one of the largest in the county. The density of the surrounding flora made it an ideal location for camouflaging the marijuana plants, which were between 3 to 5 feet tall. A similar marijuana farm was found last month in neighboring San Luis Obispo County on a 20-acre site in an unincorporated area of Los Osos. About 7,200 plants were growing among thick vegetation. The plants had an estimated street value of $21 million.(AP) (08-11)16:25 PDT 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on August 13, 1999 at 18:01:20 PT:
Los Padres Pot Bust Amount Greater Than Thought
Pubdate: Fri,13 August 1999 Source: Santa Maria Times (CA) Copyright: 1999 Santa Maria Times Address: PO Box 400, Santa Maria, CA 93456-0400 Fax: 1-805-928-5657 Author: Karen White, Senior Times Writer Having now pulled up more than 10,400 marijuana plants, a force of law enforcement officers continued Thursday to follow a trail of post along the Bear Creek drainage and other sites in the Los Padres National Park near the top of the San Marcos Pass. An estimated 10,409 plants, with a street value of $3,000 each - totaling more than $31 million - have been eradicated in the past two days, according to reports from the U.S. Forest Service and Santa Barbara County Narcotics Task Force. Eradication continues today. The plants are to be burned at an undisclosed location in the forest. Aerial surveillance first located the bright green marijuana in the brush and oaks in late June. Authorities watched a long time before 40 people raided the primary location Tuesday morning. The raiders flushed out two farmers living at the Bear Creek wilderness site in tents. They fled, leaving behind a three-month supply of food and evidence indicating they were Mexican nationals. This series of marijuana fields yielded 10,009 plants. Thursday the raiders found a second marijuana plantation believed to be a completely separate operation. The force eradicated another 398 plants in small plots in an area from Paradise to Lake Cachuma. These plants were "strung out" over the area, according to Sgt. Stan Mathiasen, narcotics task force chief, and Marion Matthews, law enforcement officer for the U.S. Forest Service. Wednesday, Mathiasen called the large plantation eradication project "The Really Big One." Then, the estimate was between 5,000 and 7,000 plants with a value of $15 million. This haul still isn't the biggest in Santa Barbara county history - 13,000 plants were taken in one swoop a few years back. But it has now topped a haul last month in Los Osos in neighboring San Luis Obispo County, where an estimated 7,200 plants worth $21 million were taken. Despite yellowjackets, poison oak and rugged terrain, no injuries or major problems have been reported and no booby traps have been found. The eradication/investigation is being aided by a helicopter from the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting. 
Los Padres Pot Bust Amount Greater Than Thought
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