Posted on 08/24/2006 7:58:17 AM PDT by conservativecorner
In a large raid preceding the harvest season, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department has seized 2,500 marijuana plants with a street value estimated at up to $12.5 million.
Two men found at the scattered gardens near Hyatt Lake on Monday remain in Jackson County Jail on immigration holds and the investigation is continuing, Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said.
Officials had watched the growing operation, believed to be linked to a Mexican drug cartel, and swept in Monday to destroy it just before harvest time, sheriff's Lt. Pat Rowland said.
SWAT teams from Jackson and Douglas counties and Oregon State Police, along with officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted Monday's raid.
The SWAT teams detained two armed Hispanic men found at the gardens. Rafael Santoya-Pineda, no age or address listed, and Noel Tadia-Arreguin, no age or address listed, both are being held at the Jackson County Jail on immigration holds, officials said.
Investigators pulled out the plants, hoisted them in nets with a helicopter and filled a 10-yard dump truck. The plants were taken to a mill and burned, Winters said. Evidence also was collected at the scene during the day-long police effort.
The plants, each 4 to 6 feet tall, grew in scattered gardens on three acres of Bureau of Land Management property near Hyatt Lake, Winters said. Plants of that size can produce about a pound of marijuana, which would have a value of around $5,000 on the street at the retail level, he said.
"This is a serious business and people need to be careful in the woods," Winters said.
With the marijuana harvest season approaching and bow hunting season just around the corner, the sheriff worries about possible conflicts between people enjoying the forests legally and those using public and private forest lands for illegal endeavors.
Law enforcement officials have prepared a pamphlet warning that large growing operations are becoming more prevalent and can be booby-trapped. Authorities have found guns, explosive devices and aggressive defenses such as barbed wire fences, look-out stands in trees, fish hooks hung at eye level and pits filled with sharpened stakes at such operations, the pamphlet said.
The pamphlet advises hunters and hikers to watch out for irrigation systems or other evidence of cultivation such as garden tools or bags of fertilizer in the woods, isolated camps in areas far from recreation areas, and camouflage tarps or mesh coverings.
People who spot such evidence should leave immediately, backing down the path they came in on if necessary, and contact law enforcement, Winters said.
4-6 foot plants won't produce a pound of top grade pot. 1/4-1/2 pound tops. That's if conditions are perfect.
dubie?
Survivalists?
"1/4-1/2 pound tops."
That would have been my "guesstimation" for a professionally grown plant.
This story reminds me of the movie "Homegrown" with Billy Bob Thornton.
I have no clue other than what the article states.
Do you really think Vets will will break the law? One felony and all Fed benefits go down the drain. Get real. Heck, we have retired military types, who fought hard for CRSC. They are not doing your dirty work.
ping
Our friends picked up an ex hydroponics operation in BC, the entire operation is underground, grow op, generator, heat exchanger, everything excluding the house. There is a ~75x75 shop on the property with a concrete bunker the same size under it.
They now use it as a mini storage, the property is ~12 acres IIRC out in the middle of a provincial park.
My dirty work? What an inconsiderate and stupid thing to say. Perhaps I should have said armed citizens instead of ex-military, but my comments stand otherwise. People in this country are getting to the point where they cannot count on the government to protect their interests anymore and I can definitely see people taking the law into their own hands in the next 5, 10 or 15 years with regards to this alien horde sweeping over the US and bringing with it an enormous crime wave. But hey, it's not happening in your backyard, so why should you care, right gringo?
These enterprising undocumented workers are just growing the pot Americans won't grow.
Steel states: "My dirty work? What an inconsiderate and stupid thing to say. Perhaps I should have said armed citizens instead of ex-military, but my comments stand otherwise. People in this country are getting to the point where they cannot count on the government to protect their interests anymore and I can definitely see people taking the law into their own hands in the next 5, 10 or 15 years with regards to this alien horde sweeping over the US and bringing with it an enormous crime wave. But hey, it's not happening in your backyard, so why should you care, right gringo?"
Tell me about the one shot one kill posts you make? With those posts you do not need anyone, except maybe a spotter. You are a one man killer. Glad you are on our side. So, what does this Govt. owe ya?
This scenario might happen sooner than 5 years if this insane amnesty is passed with our president's seal of approval.
And it ain't just a pot patch either... We got lots of methamphetamine here in Southern Oregon...
Meth-heads???
I don't know what county you're in, but whatever happened to the sheriff forming a posse and going after a$$holes like that?
You have to be kidding!!!! They won't even investigate a break in or a robbery.....Of course, we're a ways out from town....so, we basically use the good old 3"S". At night the sound of a pump shotgun being jacked carries a long way. And a .338 round carries even further.
Where are you in Oregon?
I am in the central Southern part of the state...
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Blue ribbon award.
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2nd place award.
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