$10 million in pot plants seized in Bonsall

By Debbi Baker, UNION-TRIBUNE
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 1:24 p.m.

Narcotics task force agents on Tuesday seized more than $10 million worth of marijuana plants that were growing in a steep canyon in Bonsall.

Agents had to hike into the remote area off Interstate 15 near Gopher Canyon Road to get to the grove, said Steve Reed, a Sheriff’s Department detective and task force member.

They confiscated 10,150 plants. The growers were diverting water from an avocado orchard to grow the drug, Reed said. No arrests were made.

Each plant would have produced about one-quarter of a pound of marijuana, less than some of the plants authorities have confiscated in recent groves, Reed estimated.

One pound of marijuana sells for about $4,000.

Last week, agents found and destroyed an estimated 25,000 plants worth as much as $100 million on a farm north of Julian believed to be run by Mexican drug traffickers.

So far this year, Reed said, the task force has seized 235,000 plants worth almost $1 billion.

debbi.baker@uniontrib.com • (619) 293-1710

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