Thread: Booby Traps Protect $16 million in marijuana

Raid on forest plots yields $16 million in marijuana
By Rebecca Taylor
The Register-Guard
Published: Tuesday, September 18, 2007

GLENDALE - Detectives seized marijuana plants worth an estimated $16 million found growing on private timberland this weekend.

Booby traps protected some of the 10 separate grow sites discovered by the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team over a full square-mile of rugged forest.

An intricate network of trails linked the crops to nine campsites in the treacherous terrain where crop growers were staying, team Sgt. Chris Merrifield said.

The campsites had been abandoned, likely after the workers heard officers approaching, he said. Detectives found two loaded guns at the campsites.

In all, officers seized more than 10,000 marijuana plants weighing more than 8,000 pounds in one of the largest grows ever found in Douglas County, Merrifield said.

Police used a helicopter and dump trucks to haul the marijuana away.
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"It was a very labor-intensive operation," Merrifield said of the grow. "It was quite involved, because of the time needed to set up irrigation, the trails and the campsites."

A detective flying aerial reconnaissance Thursday spotted a large illegal marijuana grow in the canyons outside of Glendale, about 40 miles south of Roseburg.

The drug team called in backup from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Oregon State Police and Bureau of Land Management officers. Together, they located the crop first seen from above, then followed the trails to the other grow sites.

Officers encountered punji sticks, which Merrifield described as 6- to 8-inch lengths of branches sharpened to a point, shoved in the ground and covered with dirt and leaves. They serve multiple purposes: A stranger who stepped on a stick would shout, alerting the growers to their presence, and the victim would then be unable to run.

Aware of the technique, officers were able to avoid the traps, Merrifield said.

The growers also had constructed an irrigation system, using creek water and black irrigation hose, Merrifield said. The crops were planted in areas that had been cleared of timber and any vegetation that might block the sun.

Detectives suspect that the growers were hired hands working for a larger syndicate. It was unclear whether the marijuana was sold locally or transported elsewhere for sale, Merrifield said.

Officers spent the weekend harvesting the crops by hand. A helicopter hauled the plants to waiting dump trucks.

If found, the growers face felony charges including unlawful possession, manufacture and delivery of marijuana.

Douglas County is no stranger to large marijuana growing operations. In June, authorities tipped off by forest workers found 2,800 plants worth an estimated $2 million growing on private forest land in a drainage in the Callahan Mountains near Sutherlin. Detectives arrested one man found inside a tent near the grow, and two others were caught speeding away in a pickup truck.

In 2003, county authorities eradicated 5,100 marijuana plants growing on four separate plots over five acres in the Umpqua National Forest. No arrests were made.

The number of plants seized on forest land has grown in recent years, thanks in part to the appearance of Asian and Mexican drug trafficking organizations that hire workers - often illegal immigrants - to establish and maintain large crops, according to a report by the U.S. Forest Service.

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/ ... cityregion

"It was a very labor-intensive operation," Merrifield said of the grow.

Could this be proof of how hard-working illegals are?