Sandman
Jul 20, 2007, 03:24 AM
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=23933
Busts yield 3,235 plants
Published: July 18, 2007
By LACEY PETERSON
The Union Democrat
Law enforcement officials from the Tuolumne Narcotics Team and U.S. Forest Service destroyed 2,602 marijuana plants Tuesday morning near Groveland in one of two separate busts.
The pot was found growing by Forest Service wildlife experts studying a Gosshawk in the Big Creek Basin area off Highway 120 in the Stanislaus National Forest, said Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office Lt. Dan Bressler.
A team of rangers, drug agents and deputies uprooted all the plants and loaded them into nets that a helicopter took to a landing zone. There, the plants were put through a chipper and the remains were then burned.
No suspects or weapons were located, though officials believe the marijuana growth may be linked to Mexican drug traffickers based on evidence left at the scene and the planting style, Bressler said.
The plants were from 12 to 20 inches tall and, had they matured, they would have had a street value of several million dollars, Bressler said.
A second pot find — 633 plants — was in the Reynolds Creek area, north of Cherry Lake.
According to U.S. Forest Service officials, the plants were spotted by a logging crew working the timber area.
Including Tuesday's finds, four forest pot garden have been raided in the past two months by law enforcement.
In June, deputies from the Calaveras County Narcotic Enforcement Unit and U.S. Bureau of Land Management agents pulled 3,600 marijuana plants from a plantation on BLM land near Highway 26.
Last week, more than 5,000 plants were found growing in a remote area outside of Tuolumne — in the Cottonwood area of the Stanislaus National Forest.
Jay Power, patrol captain for the Stanislaus National Forest, said the gardens pose a danger to members of the public who unwittingly come across them, because they run the risk of encountering armed growers.
Contact Lacey Peterson at lpeterson@uniondemo- crat.com or 588-4525.
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=23933
Busts yield 3,235 plants
Published: July 18, 2007
By LACEY PETERSON
The Union Democrat
Law enforcement officials from the Tuolumne Narcotics Team and U.S. Forest Service destroyed 2,602 marijuana plants Tuesday morning near Groveland in one of two separate busts.
The pot was found growing by Forest Service wildlife experts studying a Gosshawk in the Big Creek Basin area off Highway 120 in the Stanislaus National Forest, said Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office Lt. Dan Bressler.
A team of rangers, drug agents and deputies uprooted all the plants and loaded them into nets that a helicopter took to a landing zone. There, the plants were put through a chipper and the remains were then burned.
No suspects or weapons were located, though officials believe the marijuana growth may be linked to Mexican drug traffickers based on evidence left at the scene and the planting style, Bressler said.
The plants were from 12 to 20 inches tall and, had they matured, they would have had a street value of several million dollars, Bressler said.
A second pot find — 633 plants — was in the Reynolds Creek area, north of Cherry Lake.
According to U.S. Forest Service officials, the plants were spotted by a logging crew working the timber area.
Including Tuesday's finds, four forest pot garden have been raided in the past two months by law enforcement.
In June, deputies from the Calaveras County Narcotic Enforcement Unit and U.S. Bureau of Land Management agents pulled 3,600 marijuana plants from a plantation on BLM land near Highway 26.
Last week, more than 5,000 plants were found growing in a remote area outside of Tuolumne — in the Cottonwood area of the Stanislaus National Forest.
Jay Power, patrol captain for the Stanislaus National Forest, said the gardens pose a danger to members of the public who unwittingly come across them, because they run the risk of encountering armed growers.
Contact Lacey Peterson at lpeterson@uniondemo- crat.com or 588-4525.
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=23933