Bust Nets $205 Million Worth of Marijuana

KTLA News
4:03 p.m. PDT, July 15, 2011

LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST (KTLA) -- Nearly 70,000 marijuana plants were seized Thursday in what Ventura County authorities are calling the largest drug seizure in the area's history.

Ventura County Sheriff's narcotics investigators found a large grow operation in June in the Los Padres National Forest north of Ojai along Highway 33.

As many as 68,488 plants were seized Thursday with an estimated street value of more than $205 million, authorities said.

They believe the site was also used as a campground for growers who poached animals too close to the site.

Investigators also found hundreds of pieces of equipment at the site used in cultivating marijuana such as fertilizer, pesticides as well as tents, sleeping bags and a large amount of trash and small animal remains.

Several handguns and rifles were also seized.

No suspects have been arrested.

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