cannabisnews.com: Sheriff's Raid Nets $7.5m in Pot Sheriff's Raid Nets $7.5m in Pot Posted by FoM on August 24, 2000 at 10:27:27 PT By Kimi Yoshino, The Fresno Bee Source: Fresno Bee Officers whack their way through San Joaquin River brush to marijuana gardens. Fresno and Madera county drug teams Wednesday raided 15 illegal marijuana gardens along the San Joaquin River, hauling in more than $7.5 million in loot. The sheriff's narcotics enforcement team gathered Wednesday morning, garbed head to toe in camouflage fatigues and armed with machetelike weapons. They ditched their action plan early -- a boat ride down the river -- and instead whacked their way through brush and trees to find the pot because the water was too shallow. "We'll go the old fashioned way -- over a bridge," said Lt. Robert Hagler, rallying his troops who marched with pruning shears and axes in hand, as if headed off to battle. "We will fight marijuana growers on the land, in the air and on the water." By day's end, the team hit gardens in Friant, Firebaugh and Mendota, seizing 3,000 plants. "People would be amazed. They commute right past this every day on Highway 41," Hagler said Wednesday's joint operation with the Madera County Narcotics Enforcement Team netted what sheriff's officials believe is just the beginning of another bumper crop of marijuana. Last year, they seized 66,000 plants. So far this year they've totalled more than 9,000 plants. "It will go up by the tens of thousands in the next two months," Hagler promised. Without the boat Wednesday morning, the narcotics team relied on the sheriff's Eagle-1 helicopter to spot marijuana from above. "Spotters" undergo specialized training in aerial observation and lead detectives on the ground. "It's got a real distinct look," Sgt. Rick Pursell said. Some even say it looks like the Emerald Forest because the green leaves are so bright. The plants grow as high as 10 to 12 feet and are planted well off the path. The suspects cleared out small patches of land, chopping down trees, brush and blackberry bushes. "These are well-tended, manicured gardens," Hagler said. Though no suspects were there when sheriff's officials arrived, detectives found some of the plants recently watered. They also found shovels, hoes and fertilizer. Near the river the marijuana farmers dug large holes so deep they hit water, allowing easy access for suspects tending their gardens. To reach the pot, detectives -- who normally work on the streets conducting undercover drug buys -- had to hike through barbed wire fences, over fallen trees and through prickly blackberry bushes. "Start whacking. Keep your plant count," Pursell told the team. When all the plants had been leveled, detectives bundled them up and hauled them out to their trucks. The marijuana will be destroyed. "I love this," detective John Avila said. "I look forward to it every season: hiking, working together as a unit, trying to get in through the bushes. ... It's like an easter egg hunt. They hide the eggs. We try to find it." Published: August 24, 2000Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)Copyright: 2000 The Fresno BeeContact: letters fresnobee.comFeedback: http://www.fresnobee.com/man/opinion/letters.htmlWebsite: http://www.fresnobee.com/Forum: http://www.fresnobee.com/man/projects/webforums/opinion.html Related Articles:Large-Scale Marijuana Fields Found in SW Virginiahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6754.shtmlMarijuana Garden Worth $40 Million Destroyedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6748.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by observer on August 24, 2000 at 17:56:28 PT re: Work Programs for the Otherwise Unemployable ... work programs for people who would otherwise be unemployableWell put as always, kaptin! Reminds me of something ol' Harry once said about the WPA (Works Progress Administration), a quintessential make-work program. http://www.wwcd.org/policy/US/newdeal.html#WPA Is it just that we're just paying these bozos a whole lot more...I believe we did a thorough job, for the public was alerted and the laws to protect them were passed, both nationally and at the state level. We also brought under control the wild growing marijuana in this country. Working with local authorities, we cleaned up hundreds of acres of marijuana we and uprooted plants sprouting along the roadsides.The 1937 law does not prohibit the sale of marijuana but puts a tax of $100.00 an ounce on any sale or transfer of drug and makes such sale or transfer illegal without proper registration and approval from the Bureau. Possession without proper authorization can bring a prison term.The Marijuana Tax Act is patterned in general after the Harrison Act, but with some major technical variations, principally based on the fact that while marijuana is used in laboratory tests it is not used for medical purposes.There were still some WPA gangs working in those days and we put them to good use. just outside the nation's capital, for some sixty miles along the Potomac River, on both banks, marijuana was growing in profusion; it had been planted there originally by early settlers who made their own hemp and cloth. [Yeah, like George Washington -obs.] The workers cleaned out tremendous river bank crops, destroying plants, seeds and roots. All through the Midwest also, WPA workers were used for this clean-up job. The wild hemp was rooted out of America.Hemp Around Their NecksFrom The Murderers THE STORY OF THE NARCOTIC GANGS By HARRY J. ANSLINGER U. S. Commissioner of Narcotics 1961 http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/murd3.htm Hot quite, Harry. Ditchweed survives. Maybe what the Goode Sheriff uprooted was more of the same? Anyway, indoor growers salute Harry and the Goode Sheriff for improving the cannabis genome. Harry and the Sheriff help keep prices high, too. (If it wasn't ditchweed to begin with!)Make the most of the Indian Hemp Seed and sow it everywhere. -- George Washington [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Indoor Grower on August 24, 2000 at 16:36:43 PT Thanks guys! Thanks for cutting down the pot of all my competitors, you wonderful "narcotics" team! I call this "federal price supports." And I don't even have to pay for this wonderful service!Keep having fun playing "army man", boys, it keeps everyone paying mucho simoleans for my sweet, sweet indoor buds... [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by freedom fighter on August 24, 2000 at 14:30:03 PT Ban the Easter eggs It has become so addicting that the public are in danger."I love this," detective John Avila said. "I look forward to it every season: hiking, working together as a unit, trying to get in through the bushes. ... It's like an easter egg hunt. They hide the eggs. We try to find it." This thing looks forward to it every season. Must be very addictive. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 24, 2000 at 11:13:12 PT It amazes me Hi Kapt!Every time I see a bust with thousands of plants it amazes me. I can't comprehend all the work and risk that people are taking. How can this herb ever be stopped? It's been with us since the beginning of recorded time and I'm sure before. Peace, FoM! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on August 24, 2000 at 11:08:07 PT: Simple amusements for equally simple minds This is the penultimate triumph of Klintonomics: work programs for people who would otherwise be unemployable, adding to this whiz-bang economy of ours that is supposed to be booming along. This is why Klinton and company are so quick to crow about their economic numbers, when in fact this adds absolutely *nothing* to the Gross National Product. Now, if the flowers were harvested, the stalks retted or otherwise treated to make the fibers useful, and the seeds used for their oils, etc. we would see a net gain.Instead, we get to provide day camp and nature walks for grown ups, who, like their child counterparts, are too busy trampling nature to appreciate it. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: